Tire Tread Block Stiffness via Sipe Protrusions
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Solution Overview
Problem
All-season tires face challenges in maintaining even stiffness distribution across the tread, leading to uneven wear and traction issues on various road surfaces, as sipes enhance snow traction but reduce dry ground braking performance and cause uneven stiffness.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating protrusions at the bottom of sipes that extend radially outward to locally stiffen blocks, particularly in narrow or low-stiffness areas, improving the overall distribution of block stiffness and contact pressure for enhanced traction and wear resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sipes are added to enhance snow traction, then traction on snow-covered grounds is improved, but block stiffness is reduced leading to impaired braking performance on dry grounds
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by adding protrusions at specific locations within the blocks (particularly at boundaries or in regions requiring additional stiffness) rather than uniformly modifying the entire block structure. This allows the block to maintain overall flexibility for snow traction while having localized stiffening elements that preserve braking performance on dry surfaces.
2Adaptability or versatility
If blocks of different widths are provided to optimize performance, then adaptability to different road conditions is improved, but stiffness distribution becomes uneven leading to uneven wear and contact pressure
Solution Approach 1:
The protrusions are strategically positioned within blocks of varying widths to provide localized stiffness enhancement. This allows each block to have optimized local characteristics that compensate for width variations, ensuring more uniform overall stiffness distribution across the tread while maintaining the benefits of different block widths for various road conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent modifies the structural parameters of the blocks by adding protrusions with specific dimensions and positions. This changes the stiffness parameter locally within each block, allowing compensation for the uneven stiffness distribution that would otherwise result from having blocks of different widths, thereby achieving more uniform wear and contact pressure.
Data Source
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Figure 3A~3G
AI summary
According to aspects of the invention, a tire for a vehicle comprising a tread is provided. The tread comprises a set of consecutive blocks arranged along a circumference of the tire, the set of consecutive blocks comprising a first subset of blocks arranged according to a first pitch having a first pitch length. The tread further comprises a plurality of first grooves arranged over the circumference of the tire, wherein each of the plurality of first grooves is arranged between two blocks of the set of consecutive blocks. Each first block of the first subset of the set of consecutive blocks comprises a first sipe arranged in the first block, wherein the first sipe comprises a first protrusion of the first sipe starting from a bottom of the first sipe and extending radially outward.