Heavy-Duty Tire Crown Reinforcement With Fewer Layers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Heavy-duty construction plant radial tyres have complex architectures and high manufacturing costs due to numerous components, necessitating a simplification to reduce weight by at least 7% without compromising endurance performance.
Innovation Solution
A radial tyre design featuring a multilayer composite with a rigid layer and a low-modulus layer, where the rigid layer replaces the working layers and the low-modulus layer replaces the protective layers, both coated with the same elastomeric material, ensuring mechanical coupling and reduced number of crown layers for improved stiffness and obstacle absorption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a conventional crown reinforcement with multiple protective layers and working layers is used, then the tyre has sufficient strength and endurance, but the tyre weight is high and manufacturing cost is high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the protective reinforcement and working reinforcement into a single integrated crown reinforcement layer. This layer combines the protective function (resisting mechanical and physicochemical attacks) and the working function (belting the tyre and conferring stiffness) into one unified structure, eliminating the need for separate protective layers and working layers, thereby reducing weight while maintaining strength
Solution Approach 2:
The crown reinforcement uses a composite structure with metal reinforcers coated in an elastomeric coating compound. The metal reinforcers provide tensile strength and stiffness, while the elastomeric coating provides protection against mechanical and physicochemical attacks. This composite material approach achieves both strength and protection in a single layer, reducing the need for multiple separate layers
2Reliability
If multiple crown layers (protective layers and working layers) are superposed, then the tyre has sufficient protection and stiffness, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functional layers into a single crown reinforcement layer that performs both protective and working functions simultaneously. This integration reduces the number of discrete components and simplifies the overall structure while maintaining the reliability needed for tyre endurance
Solution Approach 2:
The single crown reinforcement layer is designed to perform multiple functions: it provides mechanical protection against attacks from the tread, confers stiffness to the tyre, and maintains structural integrity under inflation and running stresses. This multi-functional design eliminates the need for separate specialized layers
Data Source
AI summary
A tire for a heavy-duty vehicle of construction plant type comprises a crown reinforcement (35) radially on the inside of a tread (10) and radially on the outside of a carcass reinforcement (50). The crown reinforcement (35) comprises: at least one “low-modulus” layer (20) formed of elastic metal reinforcers having a structural elongation at least equal to 0.4%, and a total elongation at break at least equal to 3%, and a tensile elastic modulus of between 40 GPa and 130 GPa; at least one “rigid” layer (30) formed of rigid metal reinforcers, the structural elongation of which is less than or equal to 0.2% and the tensile elastic modulus of which is between 140 GPa and 200 GPa. The ratio of the breaking tension of the rigid layer to that of the low-modulus layer is greater than or equal to 1.2.