3D Tire Tread Kerfs With Zigzag Water Channels
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tire tread kerfs enhance braking and driving performance on snowy roads but compromise handling on dry and wet roads due to reduced block rigidity, and there is a need to improve braking performance and drainage characteristics on wet roads while maintaining functionality on snow.
Innovation Solution
The development of three-dimensional tread kerfs with a zigzag wave design, featuring a water-absorbing columnar cavity and flow channel that absorbs and drains water effectively, maintaining block rigidity and enhancing drainage characteristics on wet roads.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If kerfs are provided on the tire surface to enhance braking and driving performance on snowy roads, then traction performance on snow is improved, but block rigidity decreases causing deterioration of handling performance on dry and wet roads
Solution Approach 1:
The kerf is divided into multiple segments along the depth direction, with each segment having different widths. This segmentation allows the kerf to provide multiple functions: enhancing snow traction through the overall kerf structure while maintaining block rigidity through the varying segment widths that prevent excessive flexibility
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the kerf have different widths to provide locally optimized properties. The first and second segments have different widths from the third segment, creating local variations in rigidity and flexibility that simultaneously address snow traction requirements and handling performance requirements
2Strength
If conventional three-dimensional kerfs are formed to maintain block rigidity, then block rigidity is maintained, but the interlocking effect becomes small and locking force is concentrated on one or two sites
Solution Approach 1:
The kerf is segmented into multiple portions along the depth direction, with each segment contributing to the interlocking effect. This segmentation distributes the locking force across multiple sites rather than concentrating it on one or two locations, enhancing the overall interlocking effect and reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The kerf extends in multiple dimensions with varying widths at different depth levels. This three-dimensional structure with multiple width variations creates multiple interlocking points along the depth direction, distributing the locking force and enhancing the interlocking effect
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6A
AI summary
The invention provides three-dimensional tread kerfs for a tire, which have improved braking performance and drainage characteristics on a wet road while maintaining the functions of kerfs on the snow. Disclosed are tread kerfs (100) for a tire, each tread kerf having a kerf opening (110) formed in a block of a tire tread; a tubular-shaped flow channel (120) formed in the lower part of the kerf and having a width larger than the width of the kerf opening; and a connecting gap (130) connecting the kerf opening and the flow channel. In the tread kerf, the kerf opening is formed to have a zigzag wave shape along the tire circumferential direction in a tread block, and the zigzag wave is formed such that the amplitude decreases downward along the depth direction of the block. According to the invention, the tread kerfs for a tire have a function of maintaining the block rigidity that may be deteriorated as a result of insertion of kerfs into tread blocks and also maintaining the block rigidity that may increase with the wear of the tire, at a certain level, and also have an effect of absorbing the water existing between the tire tread and the road surface when the tire runs on a wet road, thereby allowing the tire tread to be brought into direct contact with the road surface, and causing the absorbed water to be easily discharged through the lateral sides of the tread blocks. Fig. 3