Pneumatic Tire Tread Notch with Stepped Inclined Surface
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pneumatic tires face a challenge in enhancing cornering performance and steering stability while maintaining traction and braking performance on various road surfaces, as the formation of notches in the tread blocks compromises block rigidity, affecting off-road and snow-road performance.
Innovation Solution
The tire features a tread pattern with notches in the blocks that have an inclined surface with a stairstep shape, comprising recessed curved surfaces and protruding ridges, which increases edge element and maintains block rigidity, enhancing cornering performance and steering stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If notches are formed to have the same depth as groove depth to improve snow road performance and off-road performance, then traction performance and braking performance are enhanced, but block rigidity deteriorates and cornering performance is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating a stepped structure within the notch where different portions have different depths. The first notch portion extends to the groove bottom while the second notch portion is shallower, creating localized variations in notch depth that simultaneously provide edge effect for traction and maintain overall block rigidity
Solution Approach 2:
The notch is segmented into multiple portions (first notch portion and second notch portion) with different depths. This segmentation allows the single notch structure to serve dual functions: the deeper first portion provides edge effect for snow road performance while the shallower second portion preserves block rigidity for cornering performance
2Reliability
If notches are formed linearly in radial direction to increase edge element, then snow road performance is improved, but block rigidity is compromised and steering stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates local quality variations by forming the notch with a stepped structure where the first portion extends deeper than the second portion. This localized depth variation provides enhanced edge effect for snow road performance while the shallower second portion and overall notch configuration maintain block rigidity for steering stability
3Strength
If notch depth is reduced to maintain block rigidity, then cornering performance is preserved, but traction performance and braking performance on snow road deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The notch is divided into segmented portions with different depths. The first notch portion extends to the groove bottom to provide sufficient edge effect for braking and traction performance, while the second notch portion is shallower to maintain block rigidity, allowing both braking performance and block strength to be optimized simultaneously
Data Source
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AI summary
To enhance cornering performance on each road surface and improve steering stability while ensuring traction performance and breaking performance of a pneumatic tire on a snow road or off-road. A shoulder land row (31) between a main groove (11) extending in the tire peripheral direction of a tread unit (2) and a tread end (TE) is partitioned into plan-view trapezoidal blocks (31B) with their widths reducing toward the outer side of a tire width direction by shoulder lug grooves (26) in an almost tire width direction. A plan-view trapezoidal notch (40) with its width reducing toward the inside of a block (31B) is formed in almost the center of the main groove (11) side edge of a block (31B), and an inclined surface (41) extending from the surface of the block (31B) toward the bottom of the main groove (11) is formed in the notch (40) integrally with the block (31B). This inclined surface (41) is formed stepwise by a plurality of recessed curved surfaces and protruding ridges formed between them.