Tire Tread Middle Land Segmentation for Stability and Comfort
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Solution Overview
Problem
Tires with tread portions divided into four land portions by three circumferential main grooves often face a trade-off between steering stability and ride comfort, with high rigidity leading to improved steering stability but compromised ride comfort.
Innovation Solution
The tire design includes a tread portion with three main grooves that divide it into four land portions, where the middle land portions have narrow grooves, including transverse and non-transverse grooves, to reduce rigidity and enhance comfort while maintaining steering stability, with specific dimensions and orientations of these grooves optimizing both factors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the tread portion is formed by four land portions with high rigidity, then steering stability is improved, but ride comfort is deteriorated
Solution Approach 1:
The middle land portions are segmented by introducing multiple narrow grooves (transverse and non-transverse) that divide the continuous rubber structure into smaller sections. This segmentation reduces the overall rigidity of the middle land portions while maintaining their structural integrity, allowing the tire to absorb road irregularities better and improve ride comfort without sacrificing steering stability
Solution Approach 2:
Different rigidity characteristics are applied to different regions of the tread portion. The shoulder land portions maintain high rigidity for steering stability, while the middle land portions are designed with lower rigidity through the narrow groove pattern to improve ride comfort. This local differentiation of mechanical properties resolves the contradiction between steering stability and ride comfort
2Length of moving object
If the width of each land portion in the tire axial direction is increased, then steering stability is improved, but ride comfort is deteriorated
Solution Approach 1:
The narrow grooves segment the wide middle land portions into smaller effective rigid sections. This allows the land portions to maintain their overall width for steering stability while the segmented structure reduces rigidity to improve ride comfort
Solution Approach 2:
The rigidity parameter of the middle land portions is changed by introducing narrow grooves with specific dimensions (width not more than 3.0 mm). This parameter modification allows the same land portion width to provide both steering stability and improved ride comfort
Data Source
AI summary
A tire comprises a tread portion comprising three main grooves and four land portions. The main grooves are a first shoulder main groove, a second shoulder main groove and a crown main groove. The land portions include a first middle land portion between the first shoulder main groove and the crown main groove, a second middle land portion between the second shoulder main groove and the crown main groove. The first middle land portion is disposed so that the tire equator is positioned in the ground contact surface thereof. Each of the first middle land portion and the second middle land portion is provided with a plurality of narrow grooves so as to exhibit excellent steering stability and ride comfort.