Stepped Tire Buttress Structure for Snow Grip and Mud Evacuation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Pneumatic tires face challenges in improving on-snow performance, mud performance, and durability performance simultaneously.
Innovation Solution
A pneumatic tire design featuring a tread portion with a first tread edge and a first buttress portion that includes stepped surfaces protruding outward in the tire axial direction, with varying heights at the same radial position, enhancing traction, mud evacuation, and heat dissipation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional smooth buttress portion design is used, then manufacturing is simple, but on-snow performance and mud performance are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The buttress portion is segmented into multiple stepped surfaces with different protruding heights, creating distinct functional zones. This segmentation allows the tire to simultaneously achieve improved on-snow traction through varied surface contact and enhanced mud evacuation through stepped channel formation, resolving the contradiction between performance improvement and structural simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces vertical dimensionality variation through stepped surfaces with different protruding heights in the tire axial direction. This multi-level structure transforms a traditionally two-dimensional smooth surface into a three-dimensional stepped topology, enabling simultaneous optimization of snow grip and mud clearance without complicating the manufacturing process.
2Reliability
If conventional smooth buttress portion design is used, then structure is simple, but mud performance and heat dissipation are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The stepped surfaces segment the buttress portion into multiple levels that create effective mud evacuation channels. The varying protruding heights form natural drainage pathways that prevent mud buildup, improving mud performance while maintaining a manufacturing process that extends conventional molding techniques.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the geometric parameters of the buttress portion by introducing stepped surfaces with specific protruding height variations. This parameter modification optimizes both mud evacuation efficiency and heat dissipation capacity without requiring fundamentally different manufacturing approaches, thus resolving the contradiction between performance and structural complexity.
3Temperature
If conventional smooth buttress portion design is used, then heat dissipation is limited, but manufacturing remains simple
Solution Approach 1:
The stepped surfaces introduce vertical dimensionality that creates multiple exposed surface areas at different heights. This multi-level structure significantly increases the heat dissipation surface area compared to a smooth buttress portion, while the stepped geometry can be integrated into conventional tire molding processes, resolving the contradiction between heat dissipation performance and manufacturing simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
By changing the surface geometry parameters to include stepped surfaces with varying protruding heights, the invention increases the effective heat dissipation area. This parameter modification enhances thermal management capabilities while maintaining compatibility with standard manufacturing methods, thus resolving the contradiction between temperature control and structural complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
A pneumatic tire includes a tread portion having a first tread edge (1) and a first buttress portion (Ba) extending inward in a tire radial direction from the first tread edge (1). The first buttress portion (Ba) has a plurality of stepped surfaces (5A) protruding outward in a tire axial direction. At least one of the stepped surfaces (5A) is a first stepped surface (5a) including a plurality of stepped portions (6) having different protruding heights in the tire axial direction at the same height position in the tire radial direction.