Zigzag Tread Groove Layout for Snow, Wet, and Ice Grip
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tire designs face challenges in simultaneously maintaining performance on snow, wet roads, and ice, as increasing the groove area for improved drainage and snow traction leads to reduced rigidity and braking performance on icy surfaces.
Innovation Solution
A tire design featuring circumferential grooves, lug grooves, and land portions with a circumferential narrow groove that extends in a zigzag shape, includes bent portions with varying lengths, and has an inclination direction opposite to the long portion of the circumferential groove, which helps in maintaining rigidity and improving drainage and snow traction while preventing a decrease in ice performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the groove area is increased to improve drainage properties and snow traction, then wet performance and performance on snow are improved, but the rigidity of land portions decreases and performance on ice deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the groove structure into two types: circumferential grooves (extending in the tire circumferential direction) and radial grooves (extending in the tire radial direction). This segmentation allows different groove orientations to serve different functions - circumferential grooves primarily for drainage and snow traction, while radial grooves provide structural support to maintain land portion rigidity, thus resolving the contradiction between groove area expansion and rigidity maintenance.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention applies different groove configurations to different regions of the tread. Specifically, the circumferential grooves are designed with optimized dimensions and spacing to maximize drainage and snow performance, while the radial grooves are strategically positioned to provide local structural reinforcement. This local differentiation allows the tire to achieve high performance on snow and wet roads without compromising overall land portion rigidity and ice performance.
2Force
If the groove area is increased to increase snow column shear force, then performance on snow is improved, but the ground contact area decreases and braking performance on ice decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The groove system is segmented into circumferential and radial components, where circumferential grooves generate snow column shear force for snow traction, while radial grooves maintain land portion integrity and ground contact area for ice braking performance. This segmentation allows both force generation and contact area preservation to occur simultaneously through different structural elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The tread pattern functions as a composite structure combining different groove types (circumferential and radial) with different orientations and functions. This composite groove configuration enables the tire to simultaneously achieve high snow column shear force through circumferential grooves while maintaining sufficient ground contact area through radial grooves, thus resolving the contradiction between snow traction and ice braking performance.
Data Source
AI summary
A pneumatic tire includes circumferential grooves, lug grooves, land portions defined by the circumferential grooves and the lug grooves, and a narrow groove in the land portions that extends in a circumferential direction. At least one of the circumferential grooves that defines the land portions in which the narrow groove is disposed has an amplitude in a width direction while extending in the circumferential direction to be formed in zigzag shape including long and short portions having relatively different lengths. The narrow groove has one or more bent portions where an extension direction changes in the land portions to include a long portion and a short portion having relatively different lengths. The long portion of the narrow groove has an inclination direction in the width direction with respect to the circumferential direction in a direction opposite to the long portion of the at least one of the circumferential grooves.