Tire Tread Sipe Geometry for Dry and Ice Grip
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need for a tire that can provide improved driving performance on both icy/snowy and dry road surfaces, as existing tires often compromise between these two conditions.
Innovation Solution
The tire features a tread with circumferential grooves, outer side land portions, and central land portions, equipped with shoulder sipes and center sipes that have bent and flat sections, which enhance rigidity and ground contact area, respectively, to maintain performance on both surfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sipes are formed in the tread, then edge opening effect is improved for icy/snowy surfaces, but land portion rigidity decreases affecting dry performance
Solution Approach 1:
Sipes are selectively positioned and configured in different regions: center sipes with bent sections are placed in the central land portion, while shoulder sipes with bent sections are placed in the outer side land portions. The bent sections alternately bend on one side and the other side in the sipe width direction, creating rigidity in the longitudinal direction while maintaining flexibility for edge opening.
Solution Approach 2:
The sipes incorporate bent sections with curved geometries that alternately bend on one side and the other side in the sipe width direction. This curved configuration provides rigidity in the longitudinal direction to maintain land portion strength, while still allowing edge opening effects on icy/snowy surfaces.
Data Source
AI summary
An object of the present invention is to provide a tire exhibiting improved braking and driving performances on each of an icy/snowy road surface and a dry road surface. Specifically, the present invention provides a tire, comprising: a tread having at least two circumferential grooves formed therein; at least three rows of land portions demarcated in the ground contract surface by the at least two circumferential grooves, including a pair of outer side land portions and a central land portion other than the outer side land portions; a shoulder sipe formed in each outer side land portion such that respective ends of the sipe in the longitudinal direction thereof terminate in the outer side land portion, the shoulder sipe having in at least a portion in the depth direction thereof a bent section alternately bent on one side and the other side in the sipe width direction and continuously extending along the entire length in the sipe longitudinal direction to form a bent region; a center sipe formed in the central land portion such that each end of the sipe in the longitudinal direction thereof opens to either the circumferential groove or a lug groove, the center sipe having in at least a portion in the depth direction thereof: a bent section similar to the bent section of the shoulder sipe; and a flat section extending orthogonal to the ground contact surface of the tread, the flat section being continuous in the sipe longitudinal direction with at least one side of the bent region and extending in the sipe longitudinal direction to form a flat region.