Angled Truck Tire Tread Ribs With Stone Ejectors for Wear Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing truck tire tread designs with angled ribs and stone ejectors face challenges in minimizing kick-out stresses and irregular wear, while also effectively preventing stone drilling and penetration.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates stone ejectors within tread grooves that engage either the leading or trailing edge walls, but not both, to minimize block kick-out stresses and provide enhanced traction and protection against stone drilling, with the stone ejectors being strategically placed on the leading edge wall to reduce abnormal wear.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If angled grooves and ribs are used to prevent stone retention and reduce stone drilling, then stone protection is improved, but kick-out stresses increase causing abnormal tread wear
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the stone ejector function from the tread groove structure by adding separate protruding elements. These stone ejectors are distinct components that perform the stone-ejecting function, allowing the angled groove geometry to focus on stone prevention while the ejectors handle stone removal, thereby reducing kick-out stresses on the tread.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by positioning stone ejectors specifically on the leading edge wall of the tread groove rather than distributing them throughout. This localized placement optimizes stone ejection at the critical point where stones enter the groove while minimizing stress distribution across the entire tread structure.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If stone ejectors are placed in tread grooves to reduce stone penetration, then stone protection is improved, but tread wear increases due to kick-out stresses
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs asymmetry by placing stone ejectors exclusively on the leading edge wall of the tread groove rather than symmetrically on both walls. This asymmetric configuration optimizes stone ejection effectiveness while reducing the overall stress burden on the tread, thereby mitigating abnormal wear.
3Ease of operation
If angled ribs and grooves are used to introduce directionality and prevent stone retention, then stone ejection capability is improved, but abnormal wear occurs due to increased kick-out stresses
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the stone ejection function from the overall tread groove structure by introducing separate protruding stone ejector elements. This segmentation allows the angled groove geometry to maintain its stone-prevention and ejection capabilities while the discrete ejectors handle the mechanical action of stone removal, distributing stresses more effectively and reducing abnormal wear.
Data Source
AI summary
A heavy truck tire tread (12) is provided that has a tread groove (14) that is not oriented completely in the longitudinal direction so as to extend in both the longitudinal direction and the lateral direction. The tread groove is at least partially defined by a leading edge wall and a trailing edge wall and a bottom surface. A stone ejector (24) engages either the leading edge wall or the trailing edge wall but not both the leading edge wall and the trailing edge wall. The stone ejector faces the non-engaged leading edge wall or the trailing edge wall. Also, the tread has an average void depth that does not go past a twenty percent line (36). The twenty percent line (36) is twenty percent of a full void depth (40) located from the outer surface of the tread, and the average void depth does not include decouple grooves and tread outboard from them.