Pneumatic Tire Shoulder Sipe Segmentation for Dry Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Studless tires with block-based tread patterns struggle to balance ice/snow performance and steering stability, particularly on dry pavement, due to low rigidity of ground-contacting elements like sipes.
Innovation Solution
A pneumatic tire design featuring continuously extending shoulder and crown main grooves, inner and outer shoulder sipes, middle and center land regions with specific groove and sipe configurations, and chamfered parts to enhance rigidity and friction, improving both ice/snow performance and steering stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a large number of sipes are provided in the block-based tread pattern, then ice/snow performance is improved, but steering stability on dry pavement deteriorates due to low rigidity of ground-contacting elements
Solution Approach 1:
The tread pattern is segmented into multiple functional zones (shoulder land regions, middle land regions, center land region) with different groove and sipe configurations. Each zone is optimized for specific functions: shoulder regions with axially inner and outer shoulder sipes for ice/snow grip, middle regions with middle grooves and first/second middle sipes for balanced performance, and center region with center grooves for steering stability. This segmentation allows the tire to achieve both good ice/snow performance and steering stability on dry pavement.
2Productivity
If continuously extending main grooves are provided in the tread portion, then snow ejection capability is improved, but the complexity of the tread pattern design increases
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous main grooves are segmented into shoulder main grooves, middle grooves, and center grooves that are circumferentially aligned. This segmentation provides clear functional zones for snow ejection while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure. The grooves extend continuously in the tire circumferential direction to effectively eject snow from the tread.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the tread pattern are given different local qualities: shoulder land regions have axially inner and outer shoulder sipes for enhanced snow grip and ejection, middle land regions have middle grooves with specific width variations and first/second middle sipes, and the center land region has center grooves. This local differentiation optimizes snow ejection capability while keeping the overall design manageable.
Data Source
AI summary
A pneumatic tire 1 has a tread portion 2 provided in a shoulder land region 5 with: axially inner shoulder sipes 8 each extending axially outwardly from a shoulder main groove 3 to its axially outer end 8e terminated within the shoulder land region 5; and axially outer shoulder sipes 9 each extending axially outwardly from its axially inner end 9i located axially outside the axially outer end 8e. The axially inner end 9i of each axially outer shoulder sipe 9 is positioned on an axially outward extension of one of the axially inner shoulder sipes 8.