Heavy Vehicle Tire Tread Region Segmentation for Water Clearance
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tread designs for heavy vehicle tires face challenges in balancing void volume and active edge corner lengths for both new and worn conditions, while maintaining grip and reducing rolling resistance.
Innovation Solution
A tread pattern design with a middle region having a higher void volume ratio than the total tread, featuring circumferential grooves and transverse or oblique sipes that open into the grooves, with channels forming new grooves as the tread wears, optimizing void ratios and sipe spacing to improve wear resistance and reduce rolling resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If wide grooves are formed to increase water-clearing volume, then water clearance capability is improved, but the length of active edge corners decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The tread is divided into multiple regions (middle region, intermediate regions, edge regions) with different groove and sipe configurations. Each region is segmented to perform specific functions: middle region focuses on water clearance with higher void volume ratio, while edge regions maintain stiffness with lower void volume ratios and longer active edge corners.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the tread are given different local properties. The middle region has a higher void volume ratio (optimized for water clearance) compared to the edge regions which have lower void volume ratios (optimized for grip and stiffness). This local differentiation allows simultaneous optimization of water clearance and active edge corner length in different areas.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If void volume is increased to improve water clearance, then water clearance capability is improved, but rolling resistance increases
Solution Approach 1:
The void volume ratio is optimized locally in the middle region rather than uniformly across the entire tread. The middle region has a higher void volume ratio to enhance water clearance, while edge regions maintain lower void volume ratios to reduce rolling resistance and maintain structural stiffness. This localized optimization balances water clearance and rolling resistance.
3Strength
If sipes are made narrow to allow them to close in the contact patch, then grip is improved through edge corners, but water clearance capability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The tread is segmented into regions with different sipe configurations. The middle region contains transverse or oblique sipes that are narrower and closer together to provide grip through edge corners, while the intermediate and edge regions have different sipe patterns that contribute to water clearance without compromising grip in the contact patch.
Solution Approach 2:
Sipes are arranged in multiple orientations (transverse and oblique) and at different depths (opening into circumferential grooves at various depths). This multi-dimensional arrangement allows sipes to close for grip while still providing water clearance pathways through the three-dimensional sipe network.
Data Source
AI summary
The tread has a total axial width W and a wearable thickness PMU of material and has at least four grooves on each side of a midplane that divides the tread axially into two parts. The grooves divide the tread into a middle, intermediate and edge regions 6. The middle region has an axial width Lm of at least 30% and at most 60% of the total width W. The total volume void ratio when new is less than 17%, and the middle region has a volume void ratio that is less than half the total volume void ratio. The middle region comprises a plurality of transverse sipes opening into the grooves, and the sipes have depths at least equal to 75% of the depth of the grooves. The number of transverse sipes in the middle region is greater than the number of transverse sipes on each intermediate or edge region.