Studdable Tire Ice Discharge via Segmented Grooves
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional tires on icy roads face difficulties in discharging powdered ice from recessed portions at low rotation speeds, leading to adherence issues with spike pins, which compromises steering stability.
Innovation Solution
A studdable tire design featuring land portions partitioned by circumferential and intersecting grooves, with stud attachment portions and communicating grooves that terminate at positions separated from the stud attachment portions, allowing for effective discharge of powdered ice through the intersecting grooves.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If recessed portions are provided at the periphery of stud attachment portions to accumulate powdered ice, then powdered ice can be suppressed from adhering to spike pins, but discharge of powdered ice is insufficient at low rotation speeds
Solution Approach 1:
The tread surface is divided into multiple land portions by circumferential direction grooves and intersecting grooves. Each land portion contains stud attachment portions with integrated communicating portions that discharge powdered ice laterally through the grooves, enabling segmented and efficient ice discharge across the entire tread surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The communicating portions extend in the tire width direction (lateral dimension) rather than only in the circumferential direction. This lateral extension allows powdered ice to be discharged sideways through the intersecting grooves, creating an additional discharge pathway that is effective even at low rotation speeds where centrifugal force is insufficient.
2Ease of manufacture
If the width of communicating portion is uniform across all land portions, then manufacturing is simplified, but steering stability is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The width of the communicating portions varies by location: land portions at the shoulder portion have wider communicating portions for effective powdered ice discharge, while land portions further toward the tire width direction inner side have narrower communicating portions. This local differentiation optimizes both steering stability and ice discharge performance.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
A studdable tire (10) includes: land portions (24), (26), (28) that are provided to a tread (12) and that are partitioned by plural circumferential direction grooves (14) extending along a tire circumferential direction and plural intersecting grooves (16), (18) that intersect the circumferential direction grooves (14); stud attachment portions (32) that are formed in the land portions (24), (26), (28); and communicating portions (40), (42) that are respectively provided in the land portions (24), (26), (28) from out of the land portions(24), (26), (28) in which the stud attachment portions (32) are formed, and that each have one end portion terminating at a position separated from the respective stud attachment portion (32) and another end portion in communication with the respective intersecting groove (16), (18).