JPS6141602Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the idea] The present invention relates to a non-pneumatic tire wheel assembly.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Non-pneumatic tire and wheel assemblies for use as spare tires on passenger vehicles and low speed off-road vehicles, such as agricultural or military equipment, or certain commercial vehicles, have been a perennial desire. Those that have generally been developed in recent decades are essentially rigid structures that do not provide the desired comfortable ride quality.

As an example of the prior art, U.S. Patent No. 2016095, dated October 1, 1935, describes
The tread members are secured to reinforcing hoops made of strong spring steel tubing and attached to sheet metal wheel discs.

Also, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,807,474, a hollow or solid tire having a cord insert of elastic material is molded onto a mooring rim with a high density linear polyurethane hub structure. The hub structure is made of a substantially rigid material, with elasticity derived from the tire.

GB 1013214 further describes a non-pneumatic tire for a vehicle wheel, the beads of which are gripped between substantially radially extending flanges of a rim, possibly made of rigid metal, and whose structure the elasticity of the tread member to the rim;
It is also provided by the tread member itself.

However, none of the above conventional methods for making non-pneumatic tire and wheel assemblies have resulted in the production of such devices that are fully commercially useful. All such conventional devices
It does not have the full mechanical functionality and rideability of a conventional pneumatic tire and wheel assembly.

In accordance with the present invention, a molded reinforced resilient plastic member has a hub portion attached to the axle and a resilient rim portion extending radially outwardly from the hub portion, the rim portion extending to an open end. It is adapted to form an open rim structure with a corrugated cross-section terminating in lateral rim extensions of increasing diameter. In a preferred embodiment, the rim portion has an S-shaped radial cross-section and terminates in a tapered tip portion to which the ground contact tread member of the tire is secured. The arcuate portion of the S-shaped cross section of the rim portion is formed thin, thereby making it possible to further increase the elasticity of the structure.

1 and 2 show the overall structure of the present invention. The wheel assembly, indicated generally by the numeral 10, includes a molded, reinforced plastic hub section 1.
1 and a rim portion 12 formed integrally therewith, on which a grounding tread member 13 is carried.
The tread member 13 is made by molding in place an elastomeric material such as natural or synthetic rubber or liquid injection molded microcellular urethane material. If the tread member is made of rubber, an adhesive is required to bond it to the rim, but if it is made of polyurethane, it will adhere to the rim itself and no other adhesive is required.

One embodiment of the hub and rim is shown in FIGS. 1 and 5. The hub portion 11 has a conventional shape for mounting on a conventional wheel mount, where it is secured to the mount (not shown) by threaded members through a plurality of holes 14 in a known manner.

As shown in FIG. 3, the rim section 12 has a lateral rim extension or frustoconical section 15 which, at its small diameter, forms an outer edge 16 of the toroidal division. connected to and extending tangentially therefrom. On the other hand, this toroidal segment joins at its inner edge 17 into the large diameter section 18 of the short frustoconical section and extends tangentially therefrom. Furthermore, this short frustoconical section is also connected at the small diameter section 19 to the outer edge 20 of the further toroidal section and extends tangentially therefrom. This further toroidal segment also connects to the mounting disk 22 at the inner edge 21 and extends tangentially therefrom.

The tip end 23 of the rim portion 12 is tapered as shown in Figures 3 to 5 in order to shape the tread contact surface and to facilitate the installation of the tread member as described later. It is being
In addition, the rim portion 12 is tapered at points A and B (FIG. 7) to provide low and relatively constant stresses throughout the structure and to allow for stress concentration during high deflection loads or shocks. Make it as small as possible.

The hub and rib structure may be made of, for example, glass fiber reinforced epoxide plastic. This material has excellent long-life fatigue strength and good shock absorption and cushioning properties with relatively low deformation recovery. One type of fiber-reinforced plastic suitable for the present invention is that described in my U.S. patent application Ser. I'll list it for you.

FIG. 5 shows one method of molding the tread member 13 into the rim portion 12. This molding mold is composed of a top member 24, a side member 25, and a bottom member 26. The rim member 12 itself, together with the seal pocket 27 and O-ring 28, constitutes the mold bottom. The mold cavity 29 defined by these parts includes the liquid supply pipe 31
The elastomer material is injected and filled through the injection part 30 to which the elastomeric material is connected. As can be seen from the drawing, the tread member 13 has a rib pattern like a normal tire, has a crown on its outer half like a normal tire, and is tapered on its inner half. central rib 3
It is possible to curve and deform the main ground plane of No. 2 to make it uniform. This makes it possible to lower the rolling resistance, equalize the load distribution on the structure, and at the same time increase the lateral skid resistance area during cornering. The wider the central rib 32, the more uniform the wear of the tread member.

As seen in FIG. 5, the tread shoulder 33 extends beyond the center of the toroidal section of the rim section to increase the cross-sectional area of the wheel assembly at that point and to ensure that the section is clear of the road. Prevents abrasion and impact from curbs. By increasing the cross-sectional area of the wheel assembly at that point, the structural strength is increased so that static deformations are approximately half as low as with a reinforced plastic structure alone.

The embodiment of FIG. 6 has a lateral extension, i.e. a frustoconical section 34, which connects at its small diameter section 35 to the outer edge of the semicircular annulus 36 and extends tangentially therefrom. It extends to This semicircle toroid 36 is also connected at its inner edge 37 to the outer edge of another toroidal segment 38 and extends therefrom at a small angle. and,
This divided portion 38 is a smaller torus divided portion 4.
0 and extends tangentially therefrom. Furthermore, the toroidal segment 40 extends tangentially at its inner edge 41 to the curved outer edge 42 of the central mounting disk 43 . The thickness of each part of the rim section described above is such that during use, the stresses are small and relatively constant throughout the structure of the wheel assembly, and are designed to minimize stress even in the event of large deflection loads or shocks. is set to be smaller.

The non-pneumatic tire wheel assembly of the present invention includes a flexible composite structure that has an even cushioning load distribution and prevents road curb abrasion of the main toroidal sections of the structure. Its traction and cornering deflection are close to ordinary pneumatic tires. They perform the same function as pneumatic tires without the risk of driving deflated, there is no need to keep a spare tire on the vehicle, and the unloaded weight of the vehicle is the same as the full weight of the vehicle. The brake diameter and area can be increased, and more space can be taken up for the vehicle's suspension system.

The wheel assembly of this invention is for off-road use, military use, aircraft use,
Can be used as wheels for a wide range of vehicles including commercial and passenger cars.

Although several embodiments and details have been given to illustrate the invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many more variations are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention. Not even.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a wheel assembly according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the assembly shown in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diametrical cross-sectional view of the hub and rim portions; FIG. 4 is a partial diametrical cross-sectional view of one embodiment of the invention;
5 is an enlarged sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 4 in the mold, FIG. 6 is a partial diametrical sectional view of another embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 7 is an overall view of the rim portion of FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is an enlarged schematic diagram showing the structure. 10...Wheel assembly, 11...Hub portion, 12
...Rim part, 13...Tread member, 15...
22... mounting disk, 23... tip portion, 34... truncated conical portion, 36... semi-circular ring portion, 38, 40... split portion, 43... mounting disk.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] (1) A hub portion adapted to be attached to a wheel and an elastic rim portion extending radially outward from the hub portion as it extends toward the open end in the axial plane. a member having a resilient rim portion with a corrugated cross-section terminating in a lateral rim extension of increasing diameter; and a circumferential tire fixed to said extension.
a tread member, the rim portion being formed in the shape of a truncated cone connected to the periphery of the divided portion of the torus at the small diameter end and extending tangentially from the periphery of the divided portion of the toroid; The hub portion is formed at the radially inner end of the divided portion of the torus, and the rim portion and the hub portion are integrally molded with reinforced elastic plastic. Three-dimensional. (2) the rim portion has a tapered tip portion;
The non-pneumatic tire wheel assembly according to claim 1, wherein the tire tread member is fixed to the leading end portion. (3) The non-pneumatic tire wheel assembly according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the rim portion has an S-shaped radial cross section.