Tire Tread Block Deformation for Snow Gripping
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional tires lack effective on-snow performance without compromising traction and wear resistance, necessitating a solution for improved snow handling without requiring studless tires.
Innovation Solution
The tire design features central circumferential grooves and block land portions that deform to push snow into outer side cutouts, increasing snow density and creating shearing resistance for enhanced gripping force.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional tire tread structures are used, then traction and wear resistance are maintained, but on-snow performance is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The outer side land portion is divided into multiple segments by forming cutouts, creating discrete block portions that can independently deform and interact with snow. This segmentation allows the tire to better adapt to snowy surfaces while maintaining the overall structural integrity needed for traction and wear resistance.
Solution Approach 2:
The cutouts are specifically positioned in the outer side land portion rather than uniformly across the entire tread. This localized modification creates areas of enhanced snow interaction capability while preserving the conventional tread structure in other regions, thereby maintaining overall traction and wear resistance properties.
2Reliability
If block land portions are made larger to improve snow gripping, then on-snow performance improves, but traction on normal surfaces deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of enlarging the entire block land portion, the invention segments it by introducing cutouts. This creates smaller, more numerous interaction points with snow that provide gripping capability without increasing the overall block size, thereby preserving traction performance on normal surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The cutout structure allows the block land portion to dynamically deform under load, enabling the sides to bulge and push snow into cutouts during rotation. This dynamic behavior provides snow gripping capability while the block maintains its structural integrity for normal surface traction.
3Reliability
If more grooves are added to channel snow, then snow handling improves, but wear resistance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than adding numerous grooves across the entire tread, the invention locally modifies the outer side land portion with cutouts. This localized approach provides snow handling capability through the cutout geometry and block deformation without significantly increasing the overall groove density that would compromise wear resistance.
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 tire effectively improves on-snow performance by forming dense snow columns that provide a large gripping force, maintaining traction and wear resistance on snowy surfaces.
Implementation Method 1
the respective block land portions deform so as to expand in all directions including toward the tire width direction outer sides (the outer side land portions)
Implementation Method 2
these snow columns are sheared at the time when the outer side cutouts leave the ground-contact region (at the time of kick-out), but the shearing resistance at this time acts on the tire as a large gripping force
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
In a tire, plural outer side cutouts, which respectively correspond to block land portions and extend toward tire width direction outer sides and end midway along outer side land portions, are formed so as to be spaced apart in a tire circumferential direction in tire width direction inner-side side walls, which are exposed to central circumferential grooves, of the outer side land portions that are provided further toward tire width direction outer sides than the two central circumferential grooves respectively. Further, at least portions of tire width direction inner side openings of the outer side cutouts are positioned between maximum position A, at which a tire width direction distance of a corresponding block land portion is a maximum, and an intermediate point B of two vertices that are adjacent at a tire width direction outer-side side wall of the block land portion.