Tire Tread Sipes With Varying Depths And Insert Channels
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing tire tread designs face issues with non-uniform wear and reduced running performance due to movements of unvulcanized material during molding, which affects the geometry of inserts and the transition from sipes to new grooves formed by inserts as the tread wears.
Innovation Solution
A tire tread design featuring sipes with varying depths and a channel structure around inserts, where the sipes have a shallow depth part radially inside the insert and a wider channel at the outer end, minimizing interference with molding blades and ensuring uniform wear and improved transition to new grooves as the tread wears.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sipes are provided in the tread to generate edge corners for wet grip, then wet grip performance is improved, but the geometry of inserts may be affected by material movements during molding
Solution Approach 1:
The sipe is designed with varying depth along its length, creating zones of shallow depth and zones of great depth. This local differentiation allows the sipe to generate edge corners for wet grip while the shallow depth zones minimize interference with insert geometry during molding, thus resolving the contradiction between wet grip performance and manufacturing precision.
2Duration of action of stationary object
If inserts are used to form new grooves after tread wear, then service life is extended, but the transition from sipe to new groove may be nonuniform
Solution Approach 1:
The sipe incorporates localized shallow depth portions that create a gradual transition zone. As the tread wears and the insert forms the new groove, this shallow depth portion ensures a uniform transition from the sipe to the new groove, preventing nonuniform wear patterns and extending service life while maintaining precision.
3Reliability
If sipes extend through the tread thickness to maximize wet grip, then wet grip is improved, but material movements during molding increase affecting insert geometry
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than uniform depth throughout, the sipe is designed with local variations in depth. The shallow depth portions are strategically positioned to minimize material movement during molding that would affect insert geometry, while the great depth portions maintain effective edge corner generation for wet grip performance.
Data Source
AI summary
Tire tread comprising a tread surface intended to come into contact with a roadway, this tread comprising at least one sipe extending in a main direction D and of mean width E, this sipe comprising in the main direction D at least one part sipe of shallow depth HF and at least one part sipe of great depth HG, the depth HF being less than the depth HG, each part sipe of shallow depth and each part sipe of great depth comprising an end region, this tread further comprising at least one insert oriented in a direction different from the main direction D of the sipe, this insert being positioned wholly within the thickness of the tread so as to be situated radially on the inside of a part sipe of shallow depth HF, this tread being such that at least the part sipe of shallow depth HF situated radially on the outside of the insert is provided, at its end region, with a widening forming a channel of maximum width W, this maximum width W being greater than the mean width E of the sipe.