Tire Tread Sipe Configuration for Turning Stability and Noise Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional tires face challenges in achieving optimal turning performance and quiet performance simultaneously.
Innovation Solution
A tire design featuring five land portions defined by four circumferential grooves, with communicating sipes in the intermediate land portions that have different angles and intersection points to enhance turning stability and reduce pattern noise.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional tread patterns are used to improve turning performance, then steering stability is enhanced, but quiet performance deteriorates due to increased pattern noise
Solution Approach 1:
The intermediate land portions are segmented by communicating sipes that extend in the tire width direction, dividing the continuous rubber structure into smaller sections. This segmentation allows the land portions to deform more flexibly during cornering, improving turning performance while the sipes themselves help reduce noise by breaking up the continuous contact pattern with the road surface
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the tread pattern are given different properties: the intermediate land portions contain communicating sipes for flexibility and noise reduction, while the shoulder land portions maintain continuous structure for stability. The sipes are strategically placed only in intermediate land portions where they can effectively reduce noise without compromising overall turning performance
2Ease of manufacture
If the sipes are positioned symmetrically on the center line, then manufacturing is simplified, but turning performance is compromised due to unequal force distribution
Solution Approach 1:
The communicating sipes are positioned asymmetrically with their intersection points located on the vehicle-installed outside of the center line in the tire width direction. This asymmetric positioning creates unequal distribution of ground contact pressure and lateral forces, which optimizes the tire's turning performance by better matching the force distribution patterns that occur during cornering maneuvers
3Object-generated harmful factors
If the sipes extend parallel to the tire circumferential direction, then quiet performance is improved, but turning performance deteriorates due to reduced lateral stability
Solution Approach 1:
The sipes are oriented at specific angles relative to the tire circumferential direction, with the first sipe having a different angle than the second sipe. This angular parameter optimization allows the sipes to effectively reduce pattern noise while maintaining adequate lateral stability for turning performance by balancing noise reduction with structural integrity
Data Source
AI summary
A tire has, on a tread surface of the tire, five land portions, an installation direction of the tire to a vehicle is designated, intermediate land portions respectively have a communicating sipe 40, the communicating sipe is constituted by a first sipe 41 at a vehicle-installed outside and a second sipe 42 at a vehicle-installed inside, the first sipe and the second sipe have an intersection point P on the vehicle-installed outside of a center line in a tire width direction of the corresponding intermediate land portion, the distance between the intersection point and a land portion edge at the vehicle-installed inside is the largest in an innermost intermediate land portion of the intermediate land portions, and an angle θ1 of the first sipe to a tire circumferential direction is larger than an angle θ2 of the second sipe to the tire circumferential direction.