Tire Sidewall Marking Recess with Hydrophobic Texture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tire sidewall markings become obscured by mud or dust, reducing their visibility due to the accumulation of debris in the housing, which diminishes the contrast between the marking and the surrounding surface.
Innovation Solution
A tire design featuring a recessed housing with a texture of densely packed strands surrounding the marking, where the strands are recessed within the housing, enhancing light trapping and providing hydrophobic properties to facilitate the removal of water, dust, or mud, maintaining the visibility of the marking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If a recessed housing is used to enhance marking visibility, then the marking contrast is improved initially, but mud or dust accumulates in the housing over time, reducing visibility
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is designed with a porous structure containing multiple pores that enable passive self-cleaning through capillary action. Water and debris are evacuated from the housing via these pores, preventing accumulation that would reduce marking visibility. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining the recessed housing's visibility-enhancing function while eliminating its susceptibility to mud and dust accumulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The harmful elements (water and debris) are extracted from the housing through the porous structure. The pores act as extraction channels that continuously remove accumulated contaminants, preventing them from obscuring the marking. This maintains the visibility benefit while eliminating the harmful accumulation effect.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If the texture covers the entire recess, then debris removal is maximized, but the marking visibility is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The porous texture is applied selectively only to specific portions of the housing rather than the entire recess. This local application allows debris removal functionality in the textured areas while preserving smooth, highly visible areas for the marking itself. This resolves the contradiction by providing debris removal where needed without compromising overall marking visibility.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The texture improves the contrast and visibility of the marking by giving it a blacker appearance, providing a pleasant tactile experience, and ensuring the marking remains legible over time by effectively evacuating debris from the housing.
Implementation Method 1
this texture traps some or all of the incident light rays that strike the sidewall. This creates a darker appearance around the marking, consequently improving its contrast
Implementation Method 2
The texture used has hydrophobic properties, facilitating the removal of water, dust, or mud from the area containing the marking
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a tire made of a rubber material, including a sidewall (3) and a marking (5). The marking (5) is in a recess (7) provided in the sidewall (3). The tire has a texture (9) comprising a plurality of ribs (11) distributed with a density of at least five ribs per square millimeter (mm2), each rib having an average cross-section of 0.0007 mm2 to 0.06 mm2 and/or said texture comprising a plurality of substantially parallel sipes (13), the pitch of the sipes being at most 0.5 mm, and each sipe having an average width of 0.03 mm to 0.3 mm. The texture (9) partially or totally surrounds the marking (5) in the recess (7).