Hybrid Tire Sipe Pattern for Snow Grip and Block Rigidity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tire designs face challenges in achieving a balance between stiffness and traction/friction performance on snow, as well as dry and wet road conditions, with traditional sipe configurations either compromising snow performance or deteriorating dry and wet traction.
Innovation Solution
A tire design featuring a sipe pattern with straight sipes extending in the radial direction and two or more inclined sipes, where the inclined sipes have different depths and angles of inclination, allowing for a compromise between stiffness and traction/friction performance by optimizing the sipe pattern's geometry to enhance contact between tread block portions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If finely-sectioned blocks are used to improve snow performance, then snow performance is improved, but dry and wet performance deteriorates due to limited rigidity
Solution Approach 1:
Finely-sectioned blocks with deep three-dimensional sipes are localized to central tread blocks where they provide snow penetration and gripping capabilities. The sipes extend deeply into the block structure, creating multiple biting edges that engage with snow surfaces while the overall block geometry maintains sufficient structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The sipes are designed with three-dimensional geometry, extending not only across the tread surface but also deeply into the block structure in the radial direction. This vertical dimensionality creates multiple levels of contact edges that enhance snow penetration while the interconnected sipe structure provides internal reinforcement to maintain block rigidity.
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
A tire (1) is disclosed with a tread portion having a plurality of sipes (15, 17, 19, 37, 39) being open at the radially outer surface of a tread block (9) or tread rib. The tire (1) has at least one sipe pattern comprising one or more straight sipes (15) extending in the radial direction of the tire (1) and two or more inclined sipes (17, 19, 37, 39). At least one straight sipe (15) is arranged between two inclined sipes (17, 19, 37, 39). The inclined sipes (17, 19, 37, 39) have a main sipe direction that is inclined by an angle (α) relative to the radial direction. One or more inclined sipes (17, 19, 37, 39) are positively inclined sipes (37) and one or more inclined sipes (17, 19, 37, 39) are negatively inclined sipes (39). In one aspect, one or more inclined sipes (17, 19, 37, 39) have a curved shape along the length of the sipe (17, 19, 37, 39) or comprise at least one fold dividing the inclined sipe (17, 19, 37, 39) in two or more sub-portions (21, 23, 29, 31) being successive along the length of the sipe (17, 19, 37, 39). In another aspect, at least two inclined sipes (17, 19, 37, 39) have different depth. In yet another aspect, at least two sipes (15, 17, 19, 37, 39) of the sipe pattern have a depth of at least 6 mm and one or more inclined sipes (17, 19, 37, 39) have a curved shape along the length of the sipe (17, 19, 37, 39) or comprise at least one fold dividing the inclined sipe (17, 19, 37, 39) in two or more sub-portions being successive along the length of the sipe (17, 19, 37, 39), and the one or more straight sipes (15) and the two or more inclined sipes (17, 19, 37, 39) have directions divergent from each other from their open ends to their innermost ends.