Segmented Main Groove Pneumatic Tire Tread Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Recent tires with widened treads and no main groove suffer from insufficient drainage performance, leading to a higher likelihood of hydroplaning on wet roads, while maintaining steering stability on dry roads and snow performance is compromised.
Innovation Solution
A pneumatic tire design featuring a main groove that extends continuously in the tire circumferential direction, combined with slanted grooves and land portions, including a lug groove that connects to the slanted groove and terminates within the land portion, enhancing drainage and traction on snow without compromising stiffness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If no main groove is provided in the tread pattern, then steering stability on dry road surface is improved, but drainage performance deteriorates causing hydroplaning on wet road surface
Solution Approach 1:
The main groove is segmented into multiple groove portions that are arranged in the tire circumferential direction. Each groove portion connects slanted grooves adjacent to each other, creating a discontinuous yet functionally continuous drainage path that maintains stability while enabling water evacuation.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the tread pattern are assigned different functions: the main groove portions provide drainage functionality, while the slanted land portions maintain steering stability. The groove depth varies locally, being smaller in the groove portions than in the slanted grooves, optimizing performance in each region.
2Reliability
If continuously extending main grooves are provided, then drainage performance is improved, but steering stability on dry road surface deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous main groove is divided into multiple discrete groove portions arranged circumferentially. This segmentation maintains drainage capability while preserving land portions between grooves that contribute to steering stability on dry surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of providing a fully continuous deep groove, the invention uses multiple shallower groove portions that collectively provide sufficient drainage without excessive removal of stabilizing land material.
3Productivity
If tread width is increased, then running performance is improved, but drainage performance deteriorates leading to hydroplaning
Solution Approach 1:
The drainage function is extended from the radial dimension (main groove depth) to the circumferential dimension (multiple groove portions arranged around the tire). This allows effective water evacuation across wider treads without compromising structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The tread pattern is segmented into multiple functional zones with groove portions distributed circumferentially, enabling proportional drainage capacity that scales with tread width while maintaining performance characteristics.
Data Source
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AI summary
A pneumatic tire (1) having a tread portion (2) in which a main groove (11A) is provided so as to extend continuously in a tire circumferential direction between a tire equator (C) and a first tread edge (Te1) at one side in a tire axial direction, a plurality of slanted grooves (10A) are each provided so as to extend obliquely from the first tread edge (Te1) toward the tire equator side and terminate at a position at the tire equator side beyond the main groove (11A), and a plurality of slanted land portions (13A) are each provided so as to be demarcated between the slanted grooves (10A) adjacent to each other in the tire circumferential direction wherein in at least one of the slanted land portions (13A), a lug groove (15) that is connected at one end thereof to a slanted groove (10A) and that terminates at another end thereof in the slanted land portion (13A) is provided so as to be adjacent to the main groove (11A).