Motorcycle Tire Overlapping Tread Blocks Cornering Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional motorcycle tires for rough terrain suffer from deteriorated transient characteristics during cornering due to non-overlapping tread blocks on the tire meridian cross section, leading to reduced grip and traction, especially at varying camber angles.
Innovation Solution
A motorcycle tire design featuring a tread portion with overlapping central, middle, and shoulder blocks, where each block's centroid is located within its respective region, ensuring partial overlap of adjacent blocks on the tire meridian cross section, along with a triangular arrangement and dented shoulder blocks to enhance grip and stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If tread blocks are arranged non-overlapping on the tire meridian cross section, then manufacturing simplicity is improved, but transient characteristic of cornering deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a one-dimensional non-overlapping arrangement to a two-dimensional overlapping arrangement on the tire meridian cross section. By allowing blocks to overlap in the radial and axial dimensions while maintaining circumferential spacing, the design ensures continuous ground contact during cornering without significantly complicating the manufacturing process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different block arrangement strategies to different regions of the tire tread. Central blocks, middle blocks, and shoulder blocks are positioned with specific overlap characteristics tailored to their respective functions, allowing optimized cornering performance in each region while maintaining overall manufacturing feasibility.
2Reliability
If tread blocks are arranged to overlap on the tire meridian cross section, then transient characteristic of cornering is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the tread into distinct segments (central blocks, middle blocks, shoulder blocks) with specific overlap requirements. This segmentation allows the complex overlapping arrangement to be managed region-by-region rather than as a unified complex pattern, reducing overall design and manufacturing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent specifies quantitative parameters for block overlap (e.g., overlap amounts, axial widths, circumferential spacings) to standardize the overlapping arrangement. By defining these parameters within specific ranges, the complexity is controlled and made manageable for manufacturing while ensuring consistent cornering performance.
3Reliability
If outer shoulder block has circumferential length decreasing axially inwardly, then grip on rough terrain is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the gradual length decrease specifically to the outer shoulder block's axial profile, creating a localized geometric feature that enhances grip. This targeted approach concentrates the performance enhancement in the shoulder region where it is most needed, while maintaining simpler geometries in other blocks, thereby controlling overall manufacturing precision requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A motorcycle tire for running on rough terrain, the tire includes a tread portion including a central region, a pair of shoulder regions and a middle region. The tread portion is provided with at least one central block with a ground contact face whose centroid is located within the central region, at least one shoulder block with a ground contact face whose centroid is located within the shoulder region on each side of a tire equator, and at least one middle block with a ground contact face whose centroid is located within the middle region on each side of the tire equator. When the respective blocks are projected onto a tire meridian cross section along a circumferential direction of the tire, every pair of axially adjacent two blocks are arranged so as to overlap one another at least partially on the tire meridian cross section.