Pneumatic Tire Shoulder Block Segmentation for Noise Reduction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Pneumatic tires designed for off-road use face a challenge in reducing pattern noise while maintaining superior off-road performance, as conventional tread patterns with lateral grooves lead to increased noise due to block impact sounds.
Innovation Solution
The tire features circumferential main grooves and lateral grooves in shoulder sections with fine grooves connecting them, dividing blocks into inner and outer blocks, and offsetting these blocks in the tire-circumferential direction to reduce impact sounds, while fine grooves compensate for potential reductions in off-road performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If lateral grooves are provided in shoulder sections for off-road performance, then off-road performance is improved, but pattern noise increases due to block impact sounds
Solution Approach 1:
Each block in the shoulder section is divided into two sub-blocks by introducing fine grooves. This segmentation reduces the impact sound intensity of each block and creates timing differences in impact sounds between sub-blocks, thereby reducing overall pattern noise while maintaining the lateral groove structure for off-road performance
Solution Approach 2:
Fine grooves are selectively introduced only in the shoulder sections where lateral grooves are provided, while the center section maintains conventional block structure. This local modification reduces pattern noise specifically in the noisy shoulder regions without compromising the overall off-road performance characteristics
2Object-generated harmful factors
If blocks are divided into inner and outer blocks with offset arrangement to reduce impact sounds, then pattern noise is reduced, but off-road performance may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The offset arrangement of inner and outer blocks is applied partially only in the shoulder sections where lateral grooves are provided, rather than throughout the entire tread. This partial application is sufficient to reduce pattern noise in the critical noise-generating regions while preserving off-road performance in other areas
Solution Approach 2:
The offset amount between inner and outer blocks is optimized within a specific range (15-30% of the pitch length) to achieve the optimal balance between noise reduction and off-road performance, rather than using a fixed or extreme offset value
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
Provided is a pneumatic tire capable of achieving a reduction in pattern noise without sacrificing off-road performance. In the tire, circumferential main grooves (3) are formed respectively in shoulder sections (1S) of a tread area (1) so as to extend in a tire-circumferential direction (T); lateral grooves (8) are formed in the shoulder sections (1S) so as to extend outwards in a tire-width direction from the circumferential main grooves (3) and to be arranged at a predetermined pitch in the tire-circumferential direction (T); and blocks (9) are formed in the shoulder sections (1S) by the circumferential main grooves (3) and the lateral grooves (8). The pneumatic tire includes fine grooves (10) each extending so as to connect each adjacent two of the lateral grooves (8) in the tire-circumferential direction (T), each fine groove (10) dividing the corresponding block (9) into an inner block (9A) and an outer block (9B). The outer block (9B) is offset with respect to the inner block (9A) in the tire-circumferential direction (T) by an amount ranging from 15% to 30% of the pitch length (L) at which the lateral grooves (8) are arranged.