Pneumatic Tire Tread Pattern for Consistent Wet Drainage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pneumatic tires with varying circumferential main groove widths lead to inconsistent drainage performance, affecting overall wet handling capabilities.
Innovation Solution
A pneumatic tire design featuring inner and outer circumferential main grooves with varying groove wall angles and lug grooves/sipes, where the sipe width expands due to chamfered surfaces, ensuring consistent drainage and improved wet performance by optimizing groove and sipe configurations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-generated harmful factors
If the width of the circumferential main groove varies depending on the position in the tire circumferential direction, then noise can be reduced, but the drainage performance varies and overall wet performance decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by providing different groove width characteristics in different regions of the tread pattern. Specifically, the circumferential main grooves have constant width in the tire lateral direction (ensuring consistent drainage), while the groove walls have varying angles that create local variations in the contact patch. This allows noise reduction through varying contact characteristics while maintaining consistent drainage capacity through constant groove width.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the groove structure into multiple functional components: circumferential main grooves for primary drainage, lug grooves for secondary drainage and noise reduction, and sipes for micro-drainage and contact patch modulation. Each segment performs a specific function, allowing the system to achieve both noise reduction and consistent wet performance through coordinated action of segmented elements.
2Reliability
If the width of the circumferential main groove is kept constant, then drainage performance remains consistent, but noise reduction capability is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the noise reduction function across multiple segmented elements: the constant-width circumferential main grooves provide stable drainage, while lug grooves and sipes create segmented contact patches that modulate noise. The segmentation allows each element to optimize for its primary function while collectively achieving both consistent drainage and noise reduction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by varying the groove wall angles and providing different groove types (main grooves, lug grooves, sipes) at different locations. This creates local variations in contact characteristics that reduce noise, while the overall constant groove width maintains consistent drainage performance across the tread.
3Reliability
If groove walls have varying angles with respect to the contact surface, then wet performance is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent specifies that groove walls have varying angles with respect to the contact surface, with angles varying within specific ranges (e.g., 80-100 degrees for circumferential main grooves). This controlled local variation improves wet performance by optimizing contact patch characteristics while remaining within manufacturable tolerances for standard tire manufacturing processes.
Data Source
AI summary
A tread pattern of a pneumatic tire includes an inner circumferential main groove and an outer circumferential main groove that have groove walls extending in a tire circumferential direction while the angle of the groove walls relative to a contact surface varies with a predetermined amplitude, an inner lug groove extending from the inner circumferential main groove toward the outer circumferential main groove, an outer lug groove extending from the outer circumferential main groove toward the inner circumferential main groove, and a sipe configured to communicate the inner lug groove with the outer lug groove. A pair of chamfered surfaces are provided on walls of the sipe along an extension direction of the sipe on the contact surface.