Pneumatic Tire Lateral Groove Segmentation for Wear and Wet Performance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Pneumatic tires face challenges in achieving balanced wear resistance and wet performance, as enhanced wet performance often leads to reduced wear resistance due to the formation of main grooves and lateral grooves that compromise tire rigidity.
Innovation Solution
The tire features a tread pattern with main grooves and lateral grooves that satisfy specific axial length and angle criteria, ensuring gradual tire axial length decrease and angle increase from the first to third land sections, along with sipe portions that enhance drainage and rigidity, thereby balancing wear resistance and wet performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If main grooves and lateral grooves are formed to enhance wet performance, then water discharge capability is improved, but tire rigidity is reduced leading to reduced wear resistance
Solution Approach 1:
The lateral grooves are segmented into outer portions and sipe portions, with the outer portions having longer axial lengths (A1>A2>A3) for enhanced water discharge at the tread edges, while the sipe portions have shorter axial lengths (B1<B2<B3) to maintain rigidity in the central land sections. This segmentation allows different parts of the groove system to serve different functions - water evacuation where needed and rigidity maintenance where structural integrity is critical.
Solution Approach 2:
The groove configuration varies by location: the outer portions of lateral grooves have longer axial lengths to provide effective water discharge paths at the tread edges where water accumulation is most severe, while the sipe portions have shorter axial lengths to maintain sufficient rigidity in the central land sections. This local differentiation of groove characteristics optimizes both wet performance and wear resistance in their respective zones.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If lateral grooves with longer outer portions are formed to improve water discharge, then wet performance is enhanced, but tire axial rigidity is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The lateral grooves are divided into outer portions and sipe portions with different axial length characteristics. The outer portions (A1>A2>A3) extend further axially to provide effective water discharge paths at the tread edges, while the sipe portions (B1<B2<B3) have shorter axial lengths to maintain rigidity in the central land sections. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by assigning different functional priorities to different segments of the groove system.
Solution Approach 2:
The groove system exhibits local quality variations: longer axial lengths in outer portions where water discharge is most needed, and shorter axial lengths in sipe portions where rigidity maintenance is critical. This spatial differentiation of groove characteristics allows the tire to simultaneously achieve effective water evacuation at the edges and sufficient structural rigidity in the central regions.
Data Source
AI summary
A pneumatic tire includes a tread having a first tread edge, main grooves in tire circumferential direction, lands bordered by the main grooves, and lateral grooves crossing through the lands. Each land includes a first section having the first tread edge, a second section adjacent to an inner side of the first section, and a third section adjacent to an inner side of the second section, each lateral groove includes first, second and third grooves in the sections, respectively, each lateral groove has an outer portion that extends from first tread-edge side land periphery and a sipe portion that is connected to the outer portion and extends to the other land periphery opposite a first tread-edge side, and the lateral grooves satisfy A1>A2>A3 and B1<B2<B3, where A1, A2 and A3 represent axial lengths of the outer portions, and B1, B2 and B3 represent axial lengths of the sipe portions.