Zigzag Tire Tread Grooves for Snow, Wet, and Ice Braking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tire designs face challenges in achieving balanced performance on snow, wet, and ice surfaces, as increasing groove area for improved drainage and snow performance can lead to reduced rigidity and braking performance on ice.
Innovation Solution
A tire design featuring circumferential grooves, lug grooves, and land portions with a circumferential narrow groove in a zigzag shape, including long and short portions with varying inclinations and depths, to enhance snow and wet performance while maintaining ice performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the groove area is increased to improve snow performance and wet performance, then drainage properties and snow column shear force are improved, but the rigidity of land portions decreases and braking performance on ice deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The circumferential groove is segmented into multiple sections (first circumferential groove section, second circumferential groove section, third circumferential groove section) with different configurations. This segmentation allows different portions of the groove to serve different functions: some sections provide drainage and snow performance while others maintain land portion rigidity for ice performance.
Solution Approach 2:
Different sections of the circumferential groove have different local characteristics. The first circumferential groove section has a specific inclination angle range (5-20 degrees) optimized for one function, while the second and third sections have different configurations optimized for other functions. This local differentiation allows the groove system as a whole to achieve multiple performance goals simultaneously.
2Reliability
If the groove area is increased to improve wet performance, then drainage properties are improved, but the ground contact area decreases and braking performance on ice deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The circumferential groove is divided into multiple sections with different configurations. The first circumferential groove section provides drainage functionality with controlled inclination, while the second and third sections are configured to minimize impact on ground contact area, thereby maintaining braking performance on ice.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of providing continuous circumferential grooving, the invention uses partial grooving with specific sections having different characteristics. This partial action approach provides sufficient drainage capability for wet performance while leaving enough land portion area intact to maintain ground contact and braking performance on ice.
Data Source
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AI summary
To ensure performance on snow and wet performance while suppressing a decrease in performance on ice, a pneumatic tire (1) includes circumferential grooves (30) extending in a tire circumferential direction, lug grooves (40) extending in a tire width direction, land portions (20) defined by the circumferential grooves (30) and the lug grooves (40), and a circumferential narrow groove (50) that extends in the tire circumferential direction and is disposed in the land portion (20). The at least one circumferential groove (30) among the circumferential grooves (30) that define the land portion (20) in which the circumferential narrow groove (50) is disposed having an amplitude in the tire width direction while extending in the tire circumferential direction to be formed in zigzag shape including a long portion (32) and a short portion (33) having relatively different lengths. The circumferential narrow groove (50) has one or more bent portions (51) where an extension direction changes in the land portion (20) to include a long portion (50a) and a short portion (50b) having relatively different lengths. The long portion (50a) of the circumferential narrow groove (50) has an inclination direction in the tire width direction with respect to the tire circumferential direction in a direction opposite to the long portion (32) of the circumferential groove (30).