Heavy Load Tyre Sidewall Protection via Segmented Protrusions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tires for heavy-duty vehicles are vulnerable to external attacks, leading to sidewall deformations and potential ruptures, which reduce their service life and mechanical resistance to repeated flexing, despite previous solutions not being fully satisfactory.
Innovation Solution
The tire features protrusions on its sidewalls arranged in a specific pattern across concentric circular lines, allowing for sliding contact with obstacles and distributing force to prevent sidewall damage, with each protrusion designed to overlap or partially cover others in the circumferential and radial directions, reducing the risk of tearing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the sidewall is made more resistant to external attacks by adding protective structures, then the reliability is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The protective structure is segmented into multiple protuberances arranged on concentric circular lines, with each protuberance being a simple geometric element. This segmentation allows the complex protective function to be achieved through repetition of simple units rather than a single complex structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The protection is extended from a single layer to multiple layers by arranging protuberances on two or more concentric circular lines at different radial positions. This multi-dimensional arrangement provides overlapping protection that enhances reliability while keeping each individual protuberance simple.
2Reliability
If the protuberances are arranged to provide overlapping protection, then the reliability is improved, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention specifies parameter ranges rather than fixed values: the radial distance between circular lines is 5-20mm, the angular spacing is 30-60 degrees, and the protuberance height is 3-15mm. These ranges provide design flexibility that accommodates manufacturing tolerances while ensuring adequate protection coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The protuberances are designed with sufficient height and spacing to provide overlapping protection even at the extremes of manufacturing tolerances. The excessive action principle ensures that the protective function is maintained despite variations in positioning, trading some material for robustness against manufacturing imprecision.
3Strength
If the protuberances are designed with larger dimensions to improve protection, then the strength is improved, but the weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The protection is applied locally only where needed on the sidewall, rather than uniformly throughout. The protuberances are concentrated in specific zones to provide protection against external attacks while leaving other areas lighter. This local quality approach optimizes the strength-to-weight ratio by placing material only where it provides protective benefit.
Data Source
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AI summary
A tyre for a vehicle intended to support heavy loads, this tyre being provided, on at least one sidewall, with a protective device for protecting it from external attack, this protective device consisting of a plurality of protuberances (21, 22) distributed over a number N of circular lines (C1, C2) concentric to the axis of rotation of the tyre, this number N being at least equal to two, each protuberance (21, 22) having an external surface of which the geometry has no edges, except where it intersects with the external surface of the sidewall on which the protuberance (21, 22) is formed, so as to avoid any slope discontinuity, and each protuberance (21, 22) has an external geometry such that any external profile of this protuberance (21, 22), seen in any radial cross-sectional plane containing the axis of rotation of the tyre, is a convex profile comprising a high point defined as the point furthest from the external surface of the sidewall on which the protuberance (21, 22) is formed, this high point of any external profile being offset in the meridian direction relative to the median position of the protuberance (21, 22).