Interrupted Tread Grooves With Hidden Cavities for Edge Drainage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Heavy-duty vehicle tires face challenges in maintaining mechanical strength at the tread edges and reducing energy loss due to the presence of open grooves, which leads to reduced rigidity and increased rolling resistance, affecting driving performance and wear resistance.
Innovation Solution
The tire tread features a design with a plurality of open wells on the rolling surface, connected to hidden cavities inside the tread, which allows for efficient water drainage without a continuous circumferential groove near the edges, maintaining tread rigidity and adjusting drainage volume through the arrangement of open wells and hidden cavities, with hidden cavities opening onto the side face to evacuate liquid.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If continuous circumferential grooves are provided near tread edges for water drainage, then water drainage performance is improved, but tread rigidity and mechanical strength are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous circumferential groove is segmented into multiple discrete circumferential grooves spaced apart from each other. This segmentation maintains water drainage capability while preserving tread rigidity by removing material only where necessary for drainage, rather than creating a continuous groove that would compromise structural integrity throughout the entire circumference.
Solution Approach 2:
Groove structures are provided locally near the tread edges where water drainage is most critical, rather than continuously across the entire tread. The discrete circumferential grooves are positioned specifically in regions where water accumulation occurs, allowing localized drainage improvement without globally reducing tread rigidity.
2Reliability
If deep grooves are provided in the tread for water evacuation, then water drainage capacity is improved, but rolling resistance increases due to energy loss
Solution Approach 1:
The water drainage function is segmented between discrete circumferential grooves near the edges and hidden cavities in the tread interior. This segmentation allows water to be evacuated through multiple pathways rather than requiring a single deep continuous groove, reducing the energy loss associated with deep groove deformation while maintaining drainage capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
Water drainage is achieved not only through surface-level grooves but also through hidden cavities extending into the tread interior. This three-dimensional drainage architecture provides additional drainage capacity without requiring excessive depth in any single groove, thereby reducing the mechanical energy loss that would occur with very 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
This design enhances mechanical strength and reduces energy loss by maintaining high tread rigidity and effective water drainage, extending the tread's life and improving driving performance on water-covered roads.
Implementation Method 1
each hidden cavity opening onto a side face of the tread to evacuate liquid
Data Source
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AI summary
Disclosed is a tread (1) for a heavy goods vehicle tyre having a rolling surface (10), this tread (1) comprising, close to each of its edges (11), a plurality of open wells (2) on the rolling surface when new, these open wells (2) of depth Pmax being arranged circumferentially with a mean distance D between two consecutive open wells; each open well (2) being delimited by two facing main faces (21, 22), this tread being such that each open well (2) is connected to at least one hidden cavity (32) formed inside the tread, this hidden cavity (32) opening on a main face (21, 22) of said well.