Tire Tread Stiffener Elements for Wet Grip and Wear
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional commercial truck tires face challenges in balancing wet and snow performance with rolling resistance, fuel mileage efficiency, cornering stiffness, and tread wear resistance, requiring a tread pattern that meets these competing objectives.
Innovation Solution
A tire tread design featuring a circumferential center rib, intermediate rib, and circumferential grooves with discrete stiffener elements having circumferentially oriented cuts that form radially inward channels, allowing for axial flex and convergence within the tire footprint to enhance stiffness and traction, while maintaining wear resistance and mileage efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional commercial truck tire tread patterns are used, then rolling resistance performance and fuel mileage efficiency are maintained, but wet and snow performance is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The tread pattern is segmented into multiple functional zones including circumferential grooves, lateral grooves, and discrete stiffener elements spaced at specific intervals. This segmentation allows different regions to perform specialized functions - grooves for water/snow evacuation and stiffener elements for maintaining contact pressure and traction, thereby improving wet and snow performance without compromising fuel efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the tread are designed with locally optimized properties: circumferential grooves in the center for water evacuation, stiffener elements with specific spacing in lateral regions for snow grip, and varying groove depths across the tread width. This local differentiation enables the tire to meet diverse performance requirements across different operating conditions
2Reliability
If tread patterns optimized for snow grip are used, then snow performance is improved, but cornering stiffness is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The stiffener elements are designed with dynamic characteristics that allow them to flex and converge axially when within the rolling tire footprint, closing the circumferential cuts to enhance lateral stiffness during cornering. When outside the footprint, they resume their separated orientation to maintain snow grip performance, providing context-dependent mechanical properties
3Reliability
If deeper circumferential grooves are used to improve wet performance, then water evacuation is enhanced, but tread wear resistance is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The circumferential grooves are segmented by discrete stiffener elements rather than forming continuous deep channels. This segmentation maintains adequate water evacuation capability through the spaced grooves while the stiffener elements bridge the gaps to distribute loads and reduce stress concentration, thereby improving tread wear resistance compared to continuous deep grooves
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design improves cornering stiffness, snow and wet performance, reduces tread wear, and increases mileage by allowing air and water to pass through the tread, mitigating aquaplaning and noise, and maintaining fuel efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
the stiffener element having a circumferentially oriented cut extending into an upper surface of the stiffener element toward a bottom of the stiffener element, the cut extending circumferentially through the stiffener element with the cut bounded by opposite laterally inward facing cut sides
Implementation Method 2
allowing for axial flex and convergence within the tire footprint to enhance stiffness and traction
Data Source
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AI summary
A tire tread (12) is disclosed having a circumferential center rib (22) and a circumferential intermediate (18) rib laterally adjacent the center rib (22). The intermediate rib (18) is separated from the center rib (22) by a first circumferential groove (28). A second circumferential groove (24) borders the intermediate rib (22) opposite the first circumferential groove (28). The tread further includes two further circumferential grooves (26, 30) and at least one stiffener element (32) disposed within each of the four circumferential grooves (24, 26, 28, 30), the stiffener elements (32) having a reduced height relative to a height of the center rib (22) and the intermediate ribs (18) and having a circumferentially oriented cut (36) extending into an upper surface (37) of the stiffener element (32) and toward a bottom of the stiffener element (32). The cut (36) extends circumferentially through the stiffener element with the cut bounded by opposite laterally inward facing cut sides.