Rubber Tire Spike with Offset Oval Base for Wear Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional spikes in pneumatic vehicle tires, especially those made of aluminum or steel, experience excessive wear and fine dust formation when used with grit on winter roads, leading to reduced winter performance and potential loss of spikes due to abrasive interactions with stones and grit.
Innovation Solution
Designing spikes with a circular-cylindrical spike body made of rubber, where the base part has a height of 40% to 60% of the spike height and a pin holder with a ratio of length to width between 1.10 and 1.18, ensuring the spike body is surrounded by a large rubber volume for flexible deformation and shock absorption, thus preventing cutting abrasion and maintaining lateral holding forces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional aluminum or steel spikes are used, then the spikes provide initial structural strength and anchoring capability, but they experience excessive wear and dust formation when used with grit on winter roads
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from rigid metal (aluminum or steel) to elastic rubber material. This fundamental material parameter change transforms the wear mechanism: rubber wears through abrasion without generating fine dust particles, and the elastic properties allow the spike to deform with the tread rather than resist deformation, significantly reducing wear rates and harmful dust formation while maintaining anchoring capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite structure where a metal pin holder (for structural strength and anchoring) is integrated into a rubber spike body (for elasticity and reduced wear). This composite design combines the advantages of both materials: the metal pin holder provides rigid anchoring in the tread hole, while the rubber body provides elastic deformation capability and reduced wear, resolving the contradiction between initial strength and wear resistance
2Stability of the object's composition
If rigid metal spikes are used, then the spikes maintain fixed position, but they cannot follow tread deflection creating gaps that expose the stud to abrasive action
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the spike from a static rigid structure to a dynamic elastic structure. The rubber material allows the spike body to deform dynamically with the tread deflection, maintaining continuous contact between the spike and surrounding rubber matrix. This dynamic adaptation eliminates gaps that would otherwise expose the spike to abrasive grit and stones, while the embedded metal pin holder maintains positional stability within the tread hole
3Weight of moving object
If the spike body diameter is reduced, then the spike becomes lighter, but the lateral holding forces decrease leading to reduced winter performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a composite design where a smaller diameter metal pin holder (reducing overall weight) is embedded in a rubber spike body. The metal pin holder maintains adequate lateral holding forces through its rigid structure and anchoring geometry, while the rubber body provides elastic support and shock absorption. This composite approach allows weight reduction compared to solid metal spikes while preserving necessary lateral holding forces through the synergistic combination of materials
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The rubber spikes exhibit reduced wear and improved shock absorption, maintaining high winter performance and preventing spike loss by evenly wearing with the surrounding rubber matrix, thereby preserving effective lateral holding forces and ice performance.
Implementation Method 1
The elastic material properties of rubber offer further advantages. Firstly, the elastic material dampens impacts, reducing the forces exerted on stones in the road surface or on grit particles.
Implementation Method 2
the spike body is designed in a circular cylindrical shape and has a diameter which corresponds to the center width of the foot flange or deviates from this width by up to 1.0 mm, wherein the base part has a height of 40% to 60% of the spike height and wherein the ratio between the length and the width of the pin holder is 1.10 to 1.18. The rubber spikes exhibit reduced wear and improved shock absorption
Data Source
Figure 1~3
AI summary
A spike for anchoring in a spike hole of a tread of a pneumatic vehicle tyre, having a spike body (4) composed of rubber, having a base part (2) which is situated at least partially within the spike body (4) and which is composed of a base flange (5) and a pin holder (6), in which pin holder there is anchored a spike pin (3) which projects with an end portion (3a) beyond the spike body (4) and, when the spike is inserted in the tread, beyond the tread surface, wherein the end portion (3a) is surrounded by a rubber layer (7), and the base flange (5) is encased with a rubber layer (8), wherein the base flange (5) and the pin holder (6) are each parts with an oval or approximately oval form in plan view, wherein the oval of the pin holder (6) is rotationally offset through 90° in relation to the oval of the base flange (5), and wherein the base flange (5), in plan view, has a centre width (bF) and the pin holder (6), in plan view, has a length (lP) and a width (bP). The spike body (4) is of circular cylindrical design and has a diameter (D) which corresponds to the centre width (bF) of the base flange (5) or which deviates from said width (bF) by up to 1.0 mm, wherein the base part (6) has a height (h) of 40% to 60% of the spike height (H), and wherein the ratio between the length (lP) and the width (bP) of the pin holder (6) of the base part (6) amounts to 1.10 to 1.18.