Pneumatic Tyre Microgrooves Snow Ice Grip
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pneumatic vehicle tires with profiled treads and rubber strips designed for improved snow and ice grip lose their microgroove features after approximately 1000 km of use, limiting their effectiveness over the tire's lifespan.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating microgrooves on less abrasion-resistant rubber strips with depths of 0.3 mm to 1.5 mm and widths matching the strips, which are maintained through progressive tread wear, ensuring consistent grip properties on snow and ice throughout the tire's life.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If microgrooves are added to improve snow and ice grip, then grip performance is improved, but the microgrooves wear away after approximately 1000 km limiting their effectiveness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter of specific rubber strips by using a compound with lower abrasion resistance (higher rolling resistance) compared to the surrounding tread material. This parameter change causes the strips to wear at a different rate, maintaining the microgroove structure throughout the tire's service life and continuously providing improved grip on snow and ice.
2Reliability
If rubber strips with lower abrasion resistance are used, then grip on snow and ice is improved, but the strips wear down more quickly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the harmful effect of rapid wear into a beneficial feature by strategically placing low-abrasion-resistance rubber strips in specific patterns. The accelerated wear of these strips is exactly what creates and maintains the microgroove structure needed for snow and ice grip, transforming a normally undesirable characteristic into the core mechanism for improved winter performance.
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 solution provides enhanced handling and grip on snow and ice from new, maintaining effective microgroove structures as the tire wears, ensuring improved winter driving performance throughout its service life.
Implementation Method 1
the less abrasion-resistant rubber strips wear down more quickly than the tread areas made of the more abrasion-resistant rubber material
Implementation Method 2
improve water displacement on ice and grip on snow
Data Source
Figure 1~3
AI summary
The invention relates to a pneumatic tyre for a vehicle, having a profiled tread (1) with grooves (8) formed in the provided tread depth and with profile positives (9) into which rubber strips (9b) are inserted, which extend to a depth of at least 50% of the tread depth and have a lower abrasion resistance than the rest of the rubber material (9a) of the profile positives (9) and a width (b2) of 1.0 to 4.0 mm. The pneumatic tyre for a vehicle should be designed such that the driving properties on snow and/or ice are noticeably improved, even when the tyre is new. Considered in the new state of the tyre, a sipe (10) runs on the rubber strip (9b) of lower abrasion resistance, said sipe having a depth (t) of 0.3 to 1.5 mm and assuming at most the width of the rubber strip (9b) of lower abrasion resistance.