Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60C—VEHICLE TYRES; TYRE INFLATION; TYRE CHANGING; CONNECTING VALVES TO INFLATABLE ELASTIC BODIES IN GENERAL; DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS RELATED TO TYRES
  • B60C11/00—Tyre tread bands; Tread patterns; Anti-skid inserts
  • B60C11/01—Shape of the shoulders between tread and sidewall, e.g. rounded, stepped or cantilevered
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60C—VEHICLE TYRES; TYRE INFLATION; TYRE CHANGING; CONNECTING VALVES TO INFLATABLE ELASTIC BODIES IN GENERAL; DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS RELATED TO TYRES
  • B60C11/00—Tyre tread bands; Tread patterns; Anti-skid inserts
  • B60C11/03—Tread patterns
  • B60C11/032—Patterns comprising isolated recesses
  • B60C11/0323—Patterns comprising isolated recesses tread comprising channels under the tread surface, e.g. for draining water
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60C—VEHICLE TYRES; TYRE INFLATION; TYRE CHANGING; CONNECTING VALVES TO INFLATABLE ELASTIC BODIES IN GENERAL; DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS RELATED TO TYRES
  • B60C13/00—Tyre sidewalls; Protecting, decorating, marking, or the like, thereof
  • B60C13/02—Arrangement of grooves or ribs
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T152/00—Resilient tires and wheels
  • Y10T152/10—Tires, resilient
  • Y10T152/10027—Tires, resilient with wear indicating feature

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a tire having features on the side of the tire that provide improved protection against irregular wear. More specifically, apertures provided at certain depths, densities, and locations along the side of the tire provide for improved wear patterns, including a decrease in irregular shoulder wear, particularly in regional applications.
• the apertures can be constructed as holes or incisions in various shapes and combinations.
• Tires particularly commercial vehicle tires as used on tracks, must be periodically removed from service and replaced as the tires eventually wear from use. Depending upon the application and maintenance of each tire, anomalies in the tread region can also develop
• anomalies can include, for example, depressions or uneven wear in the tread region, which is generally caused by unequal stress distribution laterally across the tread region. These stresses are frequently highest at the shoulder region of the tire, which in turn leads to anomalies such as irregular wear along the shoulder.
• Tires have also been provided with sipes along the edges of the ribs as shown in, for example, U.S. Patent No. 6,196,288.
• Previous solutions for irregular shoulder wear have been most effective when applied to tires used for long-haul applications. Unfortunately, in regional and on-off road applications, the tires frequently encounter more severe or larger lateral forces, which can tear the previously mentioned features. For these applications, an even more robust solution is desired for resisting irregular shoulder wear. More specifically, a tire capable of exhibiting more uniform wear in these more extreme applications is desired.
• a tire that defines axial, radial, and circumferential directions.
• the tire includes a pair of shoulders with one shoulder located on each side of the tire.
• a tread region includes tread sculptures and defines a wearable tread depth.
• a plurality of openings are positioned circumferentially along at least one of the pair of shoulders and are located at radial positions generally near or below the wearable tread depth.
• the plurality of openings has a length that is in the range of about 3 mm to about 15 mm.
• the openings define a total void area.
• the plurality of openings is located at radial positions in a range between generally at about 2/3 of the wearable tread depth to about 5/3 of the wearable tread depth, hi addition, it is preferable that the openings be located at distance of 2 mm from each other with such distance being measured from the outer edge of adjacent openings.
• the openings may take on a variety of shapes including, but not limited to, circular, oval, elliptical, and rectilinear, hi a preferred embodiment, the plurality of openings has a length in the range of about 10 mm to about 12 mm.
• the plurality of axially-oriented holes define a total void area where the variable parameter A 0 is in the range of about 2 (mm) to about 5 (mm).
• a tire is provided with axial, radial, and circumferential directions defined. The tire includes a pair of shoulders where one shoulder is located on each side of the tire. A tread region is defined and includes tread features having a wearable tread depth.
• a plurality of axially-oriented holes are positioned circumferentially along at least one of the pair of shoulders and are located at radial positions generally near or below the wearable tread depth.
• the plurality of axially-oriented holes each has a length that is in the range of about 3 mm to about 15 mm.
• Fig.. 1 is a side view of a tire section constructed according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
• Fig. 2 illustrates a cross-section of one shoulder of the exemplary embodiment of Fig. 1.
• FIG. 3 is an illustration of certain experimental data as will be discussed herein.
• Figs. 4 and 5 each provide tire sections constructed according to additional exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
• radial refers to the direction perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the tire.
• axial refers to the direction parallel to the axis of rotation of the tire.
• circumferential refers to the circular direction defined by a radius of fixed length as it is rotated about the axis of rotation of the tire.
• read strip refers to that portion of a tire intended for contact with a support surface.
• read strip and may include, for example, ribs which are formed continuously about the circumference of the tire, a plurality of blocks which are arranged about the circumference of the tire, and both ribs and blocks.
• FIG. 1 An exemplary embodiment of a tire 10 according to the present invention is illustrated in Fig. 1.
• Tire 10 includes sidewall 12, tread region 14, and tire shoulder 16. Along shoulder 16, tire 10 has been provided with numerous round holes 18 that are evenly spaced over shoulder 16 along the circumferential direction. While applicant has tested the alternating pattern of holes 18 created by rows 20 and 22 as shown in Fig. 1, it should be understood that a variety of different patterns may be used and this particular pattern is by way of example only. Furthermore, while only one side of tire 10 is illustrated, holes 18 are provided on both sides - i.e. both shoulders - of tire 10. However, it should be understood that while holes 18 are described as being on both shoulders of tire 10 for this particular exemplary embodiment, the present invention includes embodiments where holes or apertures are placed only along one shoulder of a tire. Such an arrangement may be preferable in some applications.
• Fig. 2 provides a cross section and magnified view of the tread region 14 and tire shoulder 16 in Fig. 1.
• holes 18 are formed into shoulder 16 and are open to the exterior along shoulder 16. Without holes 18, under large lateral forces, the exterior surface 26 of shoulder rib 28 will wear more than other parts of the tread region 14 of tire 10. With such wear, a rounder tire profile can occur that will gradually become even more braking. Eventually, overall depressions that are localized on shoulder rib 28 - i.e. irregular shoulder wear - will take place. Applicant has determined that the addition of holes 18 lessens the rigidity of tire 10 along shoulder rib 28, which causes the wear across tread region 14 to be more uniform.
• While tire 10 may wear more quickly overall, such wear will occur more evenly depending upon the density, length, and position of the holes 18 as will be discussed.
• Certain advantages of the present invention appear in measurements of wear conducted during testing of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention that was constructed in a manner similar to Fig. 1. More specifically, applicant compared the performance of tires 10 having holes 18 with witness tires lacking holes 18. Truck tires of a size 275/80 R 22.5, with and without holes 18, were subjected to conditions of large lateral forces such as might be encountered in regional applications. Tires were tested on both the left and right side of the vehicle.
• Fig. 3 wear for the witness design is shown on the left while the wear for a tire constructed with holes 18 is shown on the right.
• the tires used for testing had five rows of tread features moving from the exterior (left in Fig.3) to the interior (right in Fig. 3).
• all tires had a relatively uniform tread depth before testing was conducted.
• the witness design shows uneven wear across the tread region of the tire.
• the left tire used in the witness design shows increasing wear across the tire from the exterior to the interior side — resulting in a non-uniform wear pattern.
• the right tire used in the witness design also shows non-uniform tread wear with wear increasing across the tread from the interior side to the exterior side. Both of the witness tires have a substantial amount of wear occurring along one shoulder.
• the tires constructed with holes 18 have a more uniform wear pattern for the both left and right tires. More specifically, wear does not necessarily increase in either direction across the tread of the tire and overall a more even wear pattern is obtained. While overall wear has increased to some extent, this is a more preferable result than the nonuniform wear occurring with the witness tire. As a result, the tires with holes 18 will last longer in service and use more of the overall tread than the witness tires, which would likely be replaced much sooner due to differences in ride and/or sound associated with the irregular shoulder wear.
• holes 18 should meet certain requirements to increase effectiveness.
• arrow A designates the total depth of tread sculpture 30 while arrow B designates the "wearable tread depth” of tread sculpture 30.
• “wearable tread depth” represents the depth of tread sculpture 30 that may be used before wear begins to occur on tread wear bars 32 and 34, which indicate when tire 10 should be replaced.
• Holes 18 should be placed at a radial position that is either generally at about 2/3 of the wearable tread depth or below the wearable tread depth B. However, holes 18 should not be located at a distance greater than about 5/3 of the total tread depth A from surface 26. Placed outside these general limits, applicant believes holes 18 may either become ineffective or can undesirably generate irregular wear.
• holes 18 may be oriented in a manner that is generally parallel to the exterior surface 26, for manufacturing reasons holes 18 are preferably oriented in a manner that is generally parallel to the axis of rotation of tire 10. It should be understood that the axis of the holes 18 need not be perfectly parallel to the axis of the tire. Rather, the axis of holes 18 should be "generally parallel” to the axis of rotation or “axially-oriented", and these terms as used here and in the claims that follow should each be understood to include a range from perfectly parallel to an angle of about plus or minus 10 degrees relative to the axis of rotation of tire 10.
• holes 18 should have a depth C that is between about 3 mm and about 15 mm. Outside of this general range, the effect of holes 18 in decreasing irregular wear either becomes ineffective or achieves adverse wear patterns.
• the optimum depth for a particular application can be determined experimentally using the teachings disclosed herein.
• a depth (i.e. length) of about 10 mm to 12 mm is used.
• the total void area has a variable parameter A 0 in the range of about 2(mm) to about 5(mm).
• the void area for individual holes 18 ideally should be in the range of about 3 mm 2 to about 30 mm 2 .
• the void area for individual holes 18 should be in the range of about 5 mm to about 15 mm .
• the placement of the holes relative to one another can also impact the ability to resist irregular shoulder wear. Applicant has determined that a minimum distance of about 2 mm should be used - as measured along shoulder 16 between the outer edges of holes 18. Preferably, a distance of between about 3 mm to about 6 mm should be used. Although a perfect distribution is not required, preferably holes 18 are distributed uniformly over shoulder 16 with the distance between the centers of successive holes 18 (when proj ected onto a circle with average radius r) not exceeding 20 mm.
• Fig. 4 illustrates another exemplary embodiment of the present invention with reference numerals representing features the same or similar to that described above.
• holes 118 are elliptical in shape but are otherwise configured as described above with regard to holes 18.
• holes 118 need not be arranged in the alternating pattern of rows 120 and 122; other patterns maybe used.
• Fig. 5 illustrates another exemplary embodiment of the present invention in which the openings are created by numerous slots or thin incisions 218 that improve the resistance of tire 210 to irregular shoulder wear.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Tires In General (AREA)

Priority Applications (7)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (1)

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

Cited By (4)

Families Citing this family (11)

Citations (6)

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• 2006
  • 2006-07-13 MX MX2008015527A patent/MX2008015527A/es not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2006-07-13 CN CN200680055198.7A patent/CN101479117B/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2006-07-13 EP EP06787281A patent/EP2040941A4/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2006-07-13 BR BRPI0621889-0A patent/BRPI0621889A2/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2006-07-13 US US12/302,033 patent/US20110290388A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2006-07-13 WO PCT/US2006/027346 patent/WO2008008069A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 2006-07-13 JP JP2009519422A patent/JP2009542528A/ja active Pending

Patent Citations (6)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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