Pneumatic Tyre Buttress Side Protector with Ribbed Inclined Grooves
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Solution Overview
Problem
Pneumatic tires with side protectors on buttress portions face a trade-off between maintaining cut resistance and enhancing ride comfort, as the added rubber thickness increases sidewall stiffness, leading to compromised ride quality.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating inclined grooves with ribbed first ribs on the side protectors, angled between 20 to 40 degrees relative to the tire circumferential direction, which reduce stiffness while maintaining cut resistance by connecting groove walls and varying in depth, height, and pitch to optimize comfort and protection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If side protectors with larger rubber thickness are provided on buttress portions, then cut resistance is improved, but ride comfort deteriorates due to increased sidewall stiffness
Solution Approach 1:
The side protector is segmented by providing inclined grooves that divide the rubber mass into separated sections. These grooves create independent rib structures that can deform individually, reducing overall stiffness while maintaining the protective function against cuts and stone impacts
Solution Approach 2:
The inclined grooves are specifically positioned on the outer surface of the side protectors, creating localized flexibility zones. The groove depth, width, and inclination angle are optimized to provide different degrees of flexibility in different areas, allowing the side protector to be stiff where needed for protection and flexible where needed for comfort
2Reliability
If side protectors are provided on buttress portions, then protection against stone impact is improved, but traction in mud terrain deteriorates due to reduced gap effectiveness
Solution Approach 1:
The inclined grooves segment the side protector surface, creating multiple small gaps between the resulting rib structures. These segmented gaps remain effective for shearing mud while the overall side protector structure maintains its protective function
Solution Approach 2:
The inclined grooves are arranged at specific angles (20-40 degrees) relative to the tyre circumferential direction, creating a three-dimensional surface structure. This angular arrangement allows the side protector to interact with mud in multiple directions, improving traction while maintaining protection
Data Source
AI summary
A pneumatic tyre includes a tread portion having a pair of tread edges, and a pair of buttress portions each extending inwardly in a tyre radial direction from a respective one of the tread edges. At least one of the pair of buttress portions is provided with side protectors protruding outwardly in a tyre axial direction from an outer surface of the at least one of the pair of buttress portions and being arranged in a lyre circumferential direction. At least one of the side protectors is provided with one or more inclined grooves inclined with respect to the tyre circumferential direction. The inclined grooves include one or more ribbed inclined grooves which have groove bottoms provided with a set of plurality of first ribs.