Studdable Tire Tread Block With Tapered Stud Flange
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Solution Overview
Problem
Studdable tires face a degradation in road surface following property and reduced snow column shear force due to the installation of stud pins, which limits their performance on both ice and snow.
Innovation Solution
A studdable tire design featuring a tread portion with gently-tilted lateral grooves and studs with a tapered top flange oriented towards the rear, allowing increased block-movable range and enhanced snow column shear force, thereby improving on-snow and on-ice performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a stud pin is mounted into the block, then on-ice performance is improved through enhanced stiffness, but road surface following property is degraded due to reduced block-movable range
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating a localized flexible region around the stud pin mounting hole, while maintaining stiffness in other block areas. The hole diameter is specifically designed to be larger than the stud pin diameter, creating a flexible zone that allows block movement for road surface following, while the surrounding block material maintains overall structural stiffness for ice gripping.
2Strength
If the block stiffness is enhanced by stud pin mounting, then ice gripping performance is improved, but snow column shear force is reduced due to degraded lateral groove following property
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a localized flexible region around the stud pin mounting hole by designing the hole diameter to be larger than the stud pin diameter. This localized flexibility allows the block to move and deform sufficiently to maintain the road surface following property of adjacent lateral grooves, enabling effective snow column shear force generation while preserving overall block stiffness for ice gripping.
Data Source
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AI summary
Provided is a studdable tire that can exhibit excellent on-snow performance as well as on-ice performance. A studdable tire 101 has a tread portion 102 to which a stud 103 is mounted. The tread portion 102 has a designated rotation direction R. The tread portion 102 includes a plurality of blocks 105 and a lateral groove 106 which is adjacent to each block 105 on a rear side in the rotation direction. The lateral groove 106 includes a gently-tilted portion 107 that extends at an angle of not greater than 30 degrees relative to a tire axial direction. The stud 103 is mounted to at least one of the plurality of blocks 105. The stud 103 includes a body embedded in the block 105 and a pin portion 120 that projects from the body in a tire radial direction. The body has a top flange 111 formed in an outer side portion in the tire radial direction. The top flange 111 includes a tapered portion 111A in a planar view. The top flange 111 is disposed such that the tapered portion 111A is oriented toward the rear side of the block 105 in the rotation direction R.