JP2012051483A - Pneumatic tire - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a pneumatic tire having improved performance on an icy road.SOLUTION: In the pneumatic tire in which a plurality of grooves form a plurality of segmented blocks on tread, a plurality of sipes extending in a direction crossing the tire equator are formed on the plurality of blocks and bowl-like recesses are formed on the surface of the respective block pieces segmented by the sipes. Preferably, the recesses have a surface formed with a signal curvature on the tread width direction and the tread circumferential direction, respectively.

Description

  The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire in which a plurality of blocks are defined by grooves on a tread surface of a tire, and in particular, performance on ice is improved.

  In order to improve the performance on ice, for example, in Patent Document 1, a plurality of blocks are defined on a tread surface of a tire by a circumferential groove and a width direction groove, and the block is divided into a plurality of block pieces by a width direction sipe. A pneumatic tire is disclosed in which the block height at both ends contacting the sipe in the width direction of the block piece is the highest and the block height at the center is the lowest.

JP 2006-131021 A

However, in the above-described pneumatic tire, the edge effect due to sipe can be enhanced, but there is room for further increasing the ground contact area because attention is not paid to an increase in the ground contact area when a load is applied.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a pneumatic tire in which the contact area at the time of load is increased and the performance on ice is improved.

The gist of the present invention is as follows.
(1) In a pneumatic tire in which a plurality of blocks are partitioned by a plurality of grooves on the tread surface,
A plurality of sipes extending in a direction crossing the tire equatorial plane are formed in the plurality of blocks, and a bowl-shaped recess is formed on the surface of a block piece defined by the plurality of sipes. Enter tire.

(2) The pneumatic tire according to (1), wherein the recess has a surface formed by a single curvature in each of the tread width direction and the tread circumferential direction.

(3) The pneumatic described in (1) or (2) above, wherein the depth of the concave portion formed in the block of the tread shoulder portion is deeper than the depth of the concave portion formed in the block of the tread center portion. tire.

(4) The pneumatic tire according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein the depth of the recess is within 10% of the depth of the groove.

(5) In a pneumatic tire formed by dividing a plurality of polygonal blocks having a polygonal planar shape of a pentagon or more by a plurality of grooves on a tread surface,
On the tread surface, two or more polygon block rows in which the polygon blocks are arranged at intervals in the tread circumferential direction are provided.
Polygonal blocks belonging to polygon block rows adjacent in the tread width direction are adjacent in the tread circumferential direction where the tread circumferential position of the polygon block belonging to one polygon block row belongs to the other polygon block row. A polygon block located between the polygon blocks and belonging to one polygon block row and a polygon block belonging to the other polygon block row are both in the tread circumferential view and the tread width view. By arranging in a zigzag pattern so as to overlap each other, a block group in which polygonal blocks are densely arranged is formed.
The pneumatic tire described in (1) to (4) above, wherein

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a pneumatic tire in which the contact area at the time of load is increased and the performance on ice is improved.

(A) is a development view of a tread pattern according to an embodiment of the pneumatic tire of the present invention, (b) is a VV cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 (a), (c) is FIG. It is a WW sectional view of). It is a figure for demonstrating the effect of this invention. It is a figure which shows the modification of a recessed part. It is an expanded view of the tread pattern concerning one example of the pneumatic tire of the present invention. It is an expanded view of the tread pattern concerning one example of the pneumatic tire of the present invention. (A) is a conventional example tire, (b) is a figure which shows the sample piece of invention example tire.

Hereinafter, the pneumatic tire of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
In addition, since the internal reinforcement structure of a tire is the same as that of a general radial tire, illustration is abbreviate | omitted.

FIG. 1A is a development view of a tread pattern according to an embodiment of the pneumatic tire of the present invention. The illustrated tread pattern includes a plurality of grooves on the tread tread surface 1, in the illustrated example, two circumferential grooves 2 that extend linearly in the tread circumferential direction, and a plurality of widthwise grooves 3 that extend linearly in the tread width direction. Thus, a plurality of blocks 4 are partitioned. Each block 4 is formed with a plurality of, in the illustrated example, five sipes 5 that extend in a direction orthogonal to the tire equatorial plane CL and communicate with the circumferential groove 2. By these sipes 5, the block 4 is partitioned into six block pieces 4a. A bowl-shaped recess 6 is formed on the surface of the block piece 4a. The recess 6 is substantially elliptical in plan view.
In the above-described example, the sipe 5 communicates the adjacent circumferential grooves 2, but the sipe 5 may be terminated in the block. Further, the sipe 5 may extend in a direction crossing the tire equatorial plane CL, that is, in a direction other than parallel to the tire equatorial plane CL, and may extend while being inclined with respect to the tire equatorial plane CL. In order to exhibit to the limit, it is preferable to extend in the tread width direction.

  1B shows a VV cross-sectional view of FIG. 1A, and FIG. 1C shows a WW cross-sectional view of FIG. 1A. As shown in FIG. 1 (b), the surface of the recess 6 consists of one arc (curvature Rv) centered on the outer side in the tire radial direction from the tread surface 1 in the tread circumferential direction, as shown in FIG. 1 (c). Thus, it consists of one circular arc (curvature Rv) which has a center on the tire radial direction outer side from the tread tread surface 1 in the tread width direction. That is, the recess 6 has a surface that passes through the deepest point X and is formed with a single curvature in each of the tread circumferential direction and the tread width direction.

Hereinafter, the operation of the present invention will be described.
2 (a) to 2 (d) sequentially show the state from the state immediately after the block piece 4a is in contact with the ground, to the position immediately below the tire rotation axis as the tire rotates, and until it comes out of the contact area. .
First, when the block piece 4a starts to enter the contact area from the almost no-load state immediately after the ground contact of the block piece 4a shown in FIG. 2 (a), and the load starts to be applied to the block piece 4a, FIG. 2 (b) As shown in FIG. 5, the surface portion of the block piece 4a is deformed in the direction in which the recess 6 expands, and the space in the recess between the recess 6 and the ice road surface 20 is narrowed, and the air present in the recess 6 is outside. To be released.
Next, as shown in FIG. 2 (c), when the block piece 4a completely enters immediately below the tire rotation shaft and further a load is applied, the entire surface of the recess 6 finally contacts the ice road surface 20, Since it spreads with the diameter exceeding the surface of the block piece 4a, a ground contact area increases. From this state, as shown in FIG. 2 (d), when the tire further rotates and no load is applied to the block piece 4a, the concave portion 6 tries to be restored to the original shape. The inside is placed under a reduced pressure, and the block piece 4a obtains an adsorption force with respect to the icy road surface 20 by the adsorption effect (suction cup effect) by this reduced pressure. Due to this attraction force, contact with the road surface 20 is maintained even in the unloading state. As a result, in addition to the increase in the contact area due to the surface of the recess 6, the sliding effect and the lifting of the block piece 4a are suppressed by the adsorption effect, and the braking performance on ice is improved.
In particular, when the tire is in a braking state, it is most slippery in the process of unloading the latter half of the ground contact surface, but as described above, the present invention suppresses the lifting deformation at this time and reduces the ground contact area. As a result, it is possible to greatly ensure the braking performance on ice. Further, the water film existing on the ice road surface 20 also enters the sipe 5 between the block pieces 4a, which contributes to the improvement of the on-ice brake performance.

In the case of the pneumatic tire shown in Patent Document 1, although the ground contact area can be increased in the tread circumferential direction by reducing the center of the block piece, the ground contact area in the block width direction can be increased. It does not increase, and furthermore, the above-described adsorption effect cannot be obtained.
On the other hand, in the present invention, it is possible to increase the ground contact area at the time of load application in both the tread circumferential direction and the tread width direction, and to further improve the performance on ice due to the above-described adsorption effect.

The bowl-shaped recess 6 has different curvatures R1 and R2 as shown in FIG. 3A in addition to the above-described case where the surface is formed by a single curvature in each of the tread width direction and the tread circumferential direction. It is also possible to have a surface formed by Moreover, as shown in FIG.3 (b), the surface of the recessed part 6 can also be made into the ellipse from which the curvature changes gradually. Moreover, as shown in FIG.3 (c), the surface of the recessed part 6 may draw what is called a bathtub curve. Moreover, as shown in FIG.3 (d), the surface of the recessed part 6 may draw the curve which has an inflexion point.
In addition, the shape of the recessed part 6 can also be made into a different curve in the tread circumferential direction and a tread width direction. For example, the concave portion 6 may be formed with a single curvature R in the tread circumferential direction and draw a bathtub curve in the tread width direction.

4A and 4B are development views of a tread pattern according to an embodiment of the pneumatic tire of the present invention.
In FIG. 4A, the sipe 5 has a zigzag shape having an amplitude in the tread circumferential direction. The edge effect of the block piece 4a can be enhanced by the zigzag sipe 5. Note that a so-called 3D sipe having an amplitude in the sipe depth direction can also be used.
In FIG.4 (b), the edge of the recessed part 6 is in contact with the sipe 5 and / or the block end 4E. With this configuration, the thickness of the edge of the block piece 4a is reduced. Therefore, when the block piece 4a receives a load and grounds the surface of the recess 6, the resistance of the edge of the block piece 4a is small, and the grounding area is reduced. Can be increased.

Further, the depth Y of the recess 6 formed in the block of the tread shoulder portion (meaning the depth passing through the deepest point X, hereinafter the same) is greater than the depth Y of the recess 6 formed in the block of the tread center portion. Deep is preferred. When a load is applied, the tread shoulder portion has a higher ground pressure than the tread center portion. Also, during braking, the tread shoulder portion has a higher ground pressure than the tread center portion. Therefore, by increasing the depth Y of the recess 6 formed in the block of the tread shoulder portion, it is possible to increase the ground contact area when a load is applied as compared with the tread center portion, and to improve the performance on ice.
The tread shoulder portion is the block closest to the tread end TE, and the tread center portion block is the block closest to the tire equatorial plane CL.

  Further, the depth Y of the recess 6 is preferably within 10% of the groove depth of the circumferential groove 2 and the groove depth of the width direction groove 3. This is because when the depth Y exceeds the above range, the deepest point X of the recess 6 may not be grounded when a load is applied, and the rigidity of the block 4 may be reduced to cause uneven wear.

FIG. 5 is a development view of a tread pattern according to an embodiment of the pneumatic tire of the present invention.
The tread surface 1 is provided with three circumferential grooves 2a, 2b and 2c extending along the tread circumferential direction. Between these circumferential grooves 2a and 2b, a large number of polygonal blocks 10 which are partitioned by the grooves 9 and have an octagonal planar shape are provided. The planar shape of the polygon block 10 is not limited to an octagon, but can be a pentagon or more. However, an edge extending in the tread width direction can be reliably arranged, and the polygon block 10 is staggered as described later. And since it becomes easy to arrange densely, it is preferable to make it an octagon. Each polygonal block 10 is formed with two sipes 5 extending in a zigzag shape in the tread width direction. With these sipes 5, the polygonal block 10 is partitioned into three block pieces 10a. A substantially elliptical recess 6 is formed on the surface of the block piece 10a in plan view.

The polygon blocks 10 are arranged at intervals in the tread circumferential direction, whereby two polygon block rows 11 are formed on the tread surface 1. The polygon block 10 belonging to the polygon block row 11 adjacent in the tread width direction is a tread in which the tread circumferential position of the polygon block 10 belonging to one polygon block row 11 belongs to the other polygon block row 11. The polygonal block 10 belonging to one polygonal block row 11 and the polygonal block 10 belonging to the other polygonal block row 11 are located between the polygonal blocks 10 adjacent in the circumferential direction, and the tread circumferential direction Arranged in a staggered manner so as to partially overlap in both the view and the tread width direction view, thereby forming a block group G in which the polygonal blocks 10 are densely arranged on the tread surface 1.
Here, in the block group G, the groove 9 that divides the polygonal block 10 is sandwiched between the groove portion 9a sandwiched between the polygonal blocks 10 adjacent in the tread circumferential direction and the polygonal block 10 having a staggered relationship. Groove portion 9b.

  By having the tread pattern shown in FIG. 5, as described above, in addition to the effect of increasing the contact area of the recess 6 and the effect of the suction cup, an appropriate block rigidity is ensured and the contact property of each polygonal block 10 is improved. As a result of the downsizing of the polygonal block 10 and the sufficiently dense arrangement, the pattern edge (total edge length of all the polygonal blocks 10) can be remarkably increased while ensuring the block rigidity. Therefore, the performance on ice can be remarkably improved.

Examples of the present invention will be described below, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
Sample pieces of the inventive example tire and the conventional example tire were made as prototypes, and the on-ice performance was evaluated by FEM calculation and on-ice turntable test.
As sample pieces, a block of a conventional tire shown in FIG. 6A and a block of an inventive tire shown in FIG. 6B were prepared. Each block 4 is partitioned into block pieces 4a by sipes 5 extending in the tread width direction. The surface of the block piece 4a of the conventional tire is a flat surface. A bowl-shaped recess 6 is formed on the surface of the block piece 4a of the invention example tire.

(FEM calculation)
The ground contact area, average edge pressure, and predicted on-ice performance were measured for the inventive example and the conventional example by FEM calculation. The results are shown as an index in Table 1 with the conventional example as 100. In any measurement item, the larger the value, the better the performance.

(Turntable test on ice)
The friction coefficient on ice was measured on the turntable on which ice (temperature of −2 ° C.) was placed, using the sample pieces of the invention example and the conventional example. The test conditions were a load of 3 kgf / cm ² and a speed of 5 km / h. The results are shown as an index in Table 1 with the conventional example as 100. In any measurement item, the larger the value, the better the performance.

From Table 1, it can be seen that the inventive example has improved performance on ice compared to the conventional example.
As described above, the present invention can provide a pneumatic tire with improved performance on ice.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Tread surface 2 Circumferential groove 3 Width direction groove 4 Block 4a Block piece 5 Sipe 6 Recess 10 Polygonal block 10a Block piece 11 Polygonal block row G Block group G

Claims (5)

In a pneumatic tire formed by dividing a plurality of blocks by a plurality of grooves on the tread surface,
A plurality of sipes extending in a direction crossing the tire equatorial plane are formed in the plurality of blocks, and a bowl-shaped recess is formed on the surface of a block piece defined by the plurality of sipes. Enter tire.   The pneumatic tire according to claim 1, wherein the recess has a surface formed by a single curvature in each of the tread width direction and the tread circumferential direction.   3. The pneumatic tire according to claim 1, wherein a depth of the concave portion formed in the block of the tread shoulder portion is deeper than a depth of the concave portion formed in the block of the tread center portion.   The pneumatic tire according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a depth of the recess is within 10% of a depth of the groove. In a pneumatic tire formed by dividing a plurality of polygonal blocks having a polygonal planar shape of a pentagon or more by a plurality of grooves on a tread surface,
On the tread surface, two or more polygon block rows in which the polygon blocks are arranged at intervals in the tread circumferential direction are provided.
Polygonal blocks belonging to polygon block rows adjacent in the tread width direction are adjacent in the tread circumferential direction where the tread circumferential position of the polygon block belonging to one polygon block row belongs to the other polygon block row. A polygon block located between the polygon blocks and belonging to one polygon block row and a polygon block belonging to the other polygon block row are both in the tread circumferential view and the tread width view. By arranging in a zigzag pattern so as to overlap each other, a block group in which polygonal blocks are densely arranged is formed.
The pneumatic tire according to claim 1, wherein:

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