Tear-Drop Stud Pin Base for Winter Tire Retention
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional studded snow tires experience significant stud pin drop when used on concrete or asphalt roads due to forces applied during driving, braking, and cornering, leading to reduced traction, durability, and wear.
Innovation Solution
The design of stud pins with a tip end featuring multiple irregular surfaces and a tear-drop shaped base with a 'saucer' configuration, which is embedded in the tire tread to enhance retention and engagement with road surfaces, includes a shank and stump portion for secure installation and a radially outward tip end for improved contact with ice and snow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional stud pins are used in studded snow tires, then the tire can grip icy or snowy road surfaces, but the stud pins are dislodged on concrete or asphalt road surfaces due to forces applied during driving, braking, and cornering
Solution Approach 1:
The stud pin base features an asymmetric tear-drop shape with a rounded leading edge and a tapered trailing edge. This asymmetric geometry creates different interaction characteristics with the tire rubber: the rounded leading edge facilitates smooth insertion and embedding, while the tapered trailing edge provides enhanced mechanical interlocking and resistance to extraction forces during driving, braking, and cornering maneuvers.
Solution Approach 2:
The stud pin base incorporates curved surfaces including a rounded leading edge and a tapered trailing edge with specific curvature radii. These curved geometries allow the base to conform to the tire rubber material during installation and operation, distributing stresses more effectively and preventing stress concentration that would lead to pin dislodgement on hard road surfaces.
2Reliability
If the stud pin is tightly embedded in the tread portion to prevent pin drop, then retention is improved, but the complexity of the stud pin structure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The stud pin is divided into distinct functional segments: a tip portion for road surface contact, a base portion for tire embedding, and an intermediate shank portion. The base is further segmented into a leading edge, a body portion, and a trailing edge with different geometries. This segmentation allows each segment to be optimized for its specific function while maintaining overall structural simplicity and manufacturability.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the stud pin base are given different local geometries and properties: the leading edge has a rounded shape for easy insertion, the body portion has a specific cross-sectional geometry for optimal rubber embedding, and the trailing edge has a tapered shape for enhanced retention. This local differentiation of properties allows the single-component stud pin to achieve complex retention characteristics without increasing overall structural complexity.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5
AI summary
A stud (50) configured to be inserted into a tread portion of a tire is disclosed. The stud (50) comprises a tip end (52) for protruding from the tread portion for contacting a road surface; and a base (54) including a flanged bottom portion (58) provided on an end opposite the tip end (52) and extending radially outward when the stud (50) is inserted into the tread portion of the tire, a stump portion (56) provided between the flanged bottom portion (58) and the tip end (52), and a shank portion (60) interconnecting the stump portion (56) and the bottom portion (58). The base (54) is for being embedded and secured in the tread portion of the tire in which the stud (50) is installed. The bottom portion (54) at least substantially has a tear-drop shape or a truncated tear-drop shape comprising three at least substantially planar sides (74, 72, 76) and one at least substantially semi-cylindrical side (117).