Hexagonal Tread Sipe Structure for Snow Grip and Braking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional tires with sipes on the tread portion face a trade-off between improved on-snow, on-ice, and braking performance, often experiencing decreased stiffness which affects overall driving stability and safety.
Innovation Solution
A tire design featuring a hexagonal sipe group with varying depth portions on the tread, including first and second depth portions, arranged to form hexagons, which maintains stiffness while enhancing traction and braking capabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sipes are provided on the entirety of each inner middle block to improve on-snow and on-ice performance, then traction on snow and ice is enhanced, but stiffness of the tread portion decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by providing sipes only in specific regions (inner middle blocks and outer middle blocks) rather than uniformly across the entire tread. The sipes in inner middle blocks are configured to extend in the tire circumferential direction, while sipes in outer middle blocks extend in the tire axial direction, creating zone-specific traction enhancement without compromising overall structural stiffness.
Solution Approach 2:
The tread portion is segmented into different functional zones: inner middle blocks with circumferential sipes for snow/ice traction, outer middle blocks with axial sipes for additional grip, and intermediate blocks that maintain stiffness. This segmentation allows each zone to perform its specific function optimally without negatively affecting other areas.
2Reliability
If sipes are provided on the tread portion to enhance braking capability, then braking performance on snow and ice is improved, but steering stability decreases due to reduced stiffness
Solution Approach 1:
Different sipe configurations are applied to different block regions: inner middle blocks have sipes extending in the tire circumferential direction optimized for braking on snow/ice, while outer middle blocks have sipes extending in the tire axial direction. This localized differentiation improves braking capability in specific zones while maintaining overall tread stiffness for steering stability through the intermediate blocks.
Solution Approach 2:
The tread is divided into functional segments where braking-optimized sipes are concentrated in inner and outer middle blocks, while intermediate blocks maintain higher stiffness. This segmentation enables the tire to achieve well-balanced performance across multiple driving conditions without compromising steering stability.
Data Source
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AI summary
Provided is a tire that can have improved on-snow performance, on-ice performance, and braking performance in a well-balanced manner. A tire 1 has a tread portion 2 which comes into contact with the ground during running. A hexagonal sipe group 7 having a plurality of straight sipe pieces 7a arranged so as to form a plurality of hexagons H is provided on blocks 6 of the tread portion 2. The hexagonal sipe group 7 includes a first depth portion 8 and a second depth portion 9 having a smaller depth in a tire radial direction than the first depth portion 8.