Inclined Sipe Tread Structure for Ice Grip and Dry Stability
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current tires fail to provide optimal performance on ice and snow while maintaining steering stability on dry roads, as they lack effective tread designs that balance friction and rigidity for various road conditions.
Innovation Solution
A tire design featuring a tread portion with circumferential grooves and land portions, including inclined sipes with deep and shallow bottom portions arranged to overlap, providing enhanced friction on ice and snow and maintaining steering stability on dry roads through a balanced rigidity and slip angle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the tread is designed with deep grooves and sipes for ice and snow performance, then friction on ice and snow is improved, but steering stability on dry roads deteriorates due to reduced rigidity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating sipes with different depths at different locations. Specifically, the sipes have a first depth in a first region and a second depth in a second region, with the first depth being greater than the second depth. This allows the deeper sipes to provide enhanced friction on ice and snow while the shallower sipes maintain tread rigidity for steering stability on dry roads.
2Reliability
If the sipes are made uniformly deep to maximize ice and snow friction, then performance on ice and snow is improved, but the tread rigidity decreases affecting steering stability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by varying the sipe depth across different regions of the tread. The sipes extend from a first circumferential edge to a second circumferential edge, with a first depth in a first region and a second depth in a second region. This localized depth variation allows the tread to exhibit both high friction capability on ice and snow and sufficient rigidity for steering stability on dry roads.
Data Source
AI summary
A tire includes a first land portion with a ground contacting surface provided with inclined sipes inclined in a first direction to the tire axial direction. The inclined sipes include first and second inclined sipes arranged adjacently in the tire circumferential direction. Each first inclined sipe includes a first deep-bottom portion located on a first circumferential edge side, and a first shallow-bottom portion located on a second circumferential edge side and having a smaller depth than the first deep-bottom portion. Each second inclined sipe includes a second deep-bottom portion located on the second circumferential edge side, and a second shallow-bottom portion located on the first circumferential edge side and having a smaller depth than the second deep-bottom portion. Each second deep-bottom portion is arranged so as to overlap a projection region in which a respective first deep-bottom portion is expanded parallel to the tire axial direction.