WO2017109790A1

WO2017109790A1 - Dynamic hybrid compound tires

Info

Publication number: WO2017109790A1
Application number: PCT/IN2016/000289
Authority: WO
Inventors: Prasad MUTHUKUMAR
Original assignee: Muthukumar Prasad
Priority date: 2015-12-22
Filing date: 2016-12-16
Publication date: 2017-06-29

Abstract

Dynamic Hybrid Compound Tires (DHCT) are tires that actively vary the contact patch area and side wall in a highly controlled and predetermined manner to minimize the footprint area in normal situations and maximize the foot print area to enhance traction and stability in critical situations all according to the magnitude, nature and rate of changes of torques/forces acting on wheel tires. The DHCT comprise of Static Tread (ST) and Dynamic Tread (DT) where ST is always in contact with road surface and DT only engages in critical situations. The DHCT act instantaneously to control the tire contact patch area particularly during imminent/inevitable critical driving situations to reduce emergency and high speed breaking distance, mitigate loss of traction, hydroplaning, roll over, loss of stability, over and under steering to enhance traction and stability simultaneously sustaining drivability/steer-ability. Also the DHCT restore/optimize the footprint area immediately after overcoming critical situations to enhance mileage, reduce rolling resistance, reduce tire noise, reduce tire wear and tear etcetera.

Description

DYNAMIC HYBRID COMPOUND TIRES

Field of Invention:

[0001] The present invention is related to automobile or transportation domain and more particularly into tires that can change its contact patch area and side wall according to normal or critical situations ultimately to provide enhanced traction and stability.

Background and Problem Statement:

[0002] One of the primary challenges the tire industry face is balancing between simultaneously enhancing Tire Traction in critical situations [for safety & stability] while reducing Rolling Resistance in normal situations to reduce - tire wear & tear, fuel consumption, road noise and impact on the environment. Its highly difficult to simultaneously achieve both enhanced traction and reduced rolling resistance as both are opposite extremes. Maintaining optimum tire pressure is crucial. But constantly maintaining available tire pressure all the time irrespective of the critical situations only sustains the available traction & stability of corresponding pressure value. So it doesn't helps in enhancing the much needed tire traction during emergency situation.

[0003] Tire industry primarily focuses on utilizing various - tire compounds/materials, tire modelling, tread patterns etcetera to provide the solution. But the tire spider chart shows the real world performances of these parameters are all constant according to type of tires. Automobile industry focuses on enhance the braking efficiency and stability through ABS, EBD, ESC, TCS, Roll Over Mitigation Systems, BA, Pre-crash systems, radar assisted braking etcetera. But none of the systems works to actually increase the much needed tire traction in critical situations and these are systems designed only to utilise available traction efficiently.

[0004] Dynamic Tires are tires that can actively change Contact Patch according to normal/critical situations can provide solution. Dynamic tires are still more of a science fiction. Some of the primary challenges in achieving and bringing concept of dynamic tires to market are Design complexity, Production complexity, Mechanical components involved, Weight, Reliability, Power consumption, Space consumption, Product cost, Service,

OBJECTIVE OF INVENTION:

[0005] Objective of the invention is to enhance vehicle traction and stability in critical driving situations like emergency braking distance, avoid or mitigate - loss of traction, hydroplaning, roll over or loss of stability, inevitable collision, over and under steering through instantaneously controlling contact patch or foot print area and side wall in critical situation all through magnitude, nature and rate of change of forces acting on wheel tires ultimately to protect the vehicle, occupants, pedestrians and other things around or on the way by preventing or reducing the impact of collision. Summary:

[0006] To address the issues with static tires, the DHCT provides a dynamic foot print that instantaneously works in critical situations by controlling the contact patch area to enhance traction and stability while reducing the rolling resistance, tire noise, enhancing mileage during normal driving. DHCT eliminates the need for dedicated electronic, electronic and mechanical components required to achieve dynamic form factor tires. The DHCT aids in enhancing and effectively optimizing vehicles overall performance in safety, stability, control, speed, mileage, reducing tyre wear & tear and impact on environment.

[0007] According to one aspect of present invention the DHCT tires utilises the magnitude and thresholds of various forces acting on to actively change the tires contact patch area in a highly controlled manner.

[0008] According to another aspect of present invention the DHCT tires utilises one or more of but not limited to soft compound, intermediate compound and hard compound in the tire construction.

[0009] Tires contact patch and side wall deformation plays an very important role in vehicle traction and stability. Generally tires experiences various forces - rolling resistance, forward and reverse forces, in and out lateral forces, aligning torque, down force or radial load, lateral or cornering or side load, overturning force etcetera. Dynamic Hybrid compound tires to optimise between rolling resistance and traction based on magnitude, nature and rate of change of inertia and forces acting on tires. DHCT tires are purposefully by design varies its shape, tread pattern and side wall in a controlled manner based on the magnitude, nature and rate of change of various forces acting on the tires. Dynamic Hybrid compound tires to optimise between rolling resistance and traction through rate of change pf inertia and forces acting on tires. DHCT Maximises cornering contact patch or foot print and distributes the surface tension to provide enhanced traction and stability while high speed braking and rapid cornering. DHCT Reduces the road foot print to reduce the rolling resistance in normal situation while increasing the contact patch to enhance the grip or traction in critical situations.

[0010] DHCT works with both pneumatic and non-pneumatic tires Reduces the rolling resistance in normal driving. Dynamically increases the traction in emergency breaking. Enhances high-speed cornering stability and breaking. Mitigates over steering and under steering to maintain neutral gradient. Mitigates aqua or hydroplaning. Better self-cleaning and self-removal of foreign objects stuck in tires. As the DHCT works completely based on the magnitude and nature of forces acting on the tires to change the tires contact patch arid side wall deformation rate. Usually there are 2 types of situation, one is normal situation and another is critical situations. There is a major difference in the magnitude, number and nature of several of forces acting on the tire during critical situation and normal situations. DHCT utilises the magnitude, number and nature of several of forces acting on the tire to change its contact patch area ultimately to provide the traction and stability. Reduces tire noise. Maximises contact during extreme cornering, As DHCT utilises acting forces to change its contact patch and side wall, there is no need for extra mechanism, electronics hardware component.

Diagrams:

[0011]

FIG 1 illustrates various forces acting on wheel tires

FIG 2 illustrates tire deformation and restoration according to forces acting on tires FIG 3 illustrates the flowchart

FIG 4 illustrates the working of DHCT particularly Static Treads and Dynamic Treads Description:

[0012] DHCT vary the contact patch based on threshold and magnitude of rate of change of inertia [forward, reverse and angular] torque/forces acting on tires. DHCT tires are purposefully by design varies its shape and tread pattern in a controlled manner based on the magnitude, nature and rate of change of various forces acting on the tires. DHCT comprising of hard, intermediate, wet and soft compounds where the hard compounds works most of the time to reduce the rolling resistance and the soft, wet and intermediate compound engages only in critical situations to enhance traction and rolling resistance. DHCT works irrespective of pneumatic and non-pneumatic tires. The soft compound engages when the tires experiences high speed and emergency breaking force where the magnitudes of forces acting on the tires are high. These soft compounds are fabricated and integrated within or between the treads and buttons. The nature of the breaking force and similar forces decides when the soft compounds can engage.

[0013] Presently the contact patch or foot print area of the tires deforms and restores its shape according to the forces acting on the tires. Instead of allowing the tires to deform naturally the DHCT tires a purposefully designed to vary the footprint area according to forces acting on the tires. There are so many combinations and variables in dynamically adjusting the hybrid tire compound all to achieve improved rider feel and feedback in almost any given situation. DHCT dynamically purposefully aligns and varies the contact patch and side walls the tires vertically, horizontally and angularly according to scenarios to enhance traction and reduce rolling resistance. Forces acting on tires vary and are generally low in normal driving situations and high on critical situations. Critical situations - E.g. emergency braking, high speed braking and sudden/high speed cornering etcetera. Naturally tire threads deform according to forces acting on tires. But DHCT is designed to deform and vary the tire threads in a highly controlled manner. DHCT vary the contact patch according to critical situations to provide enhanced traction and stability. DHCT vary the contact patch based on threshold and magnitude of rate of change of inertia [forward, reverse and angular] torque/forces acting on tires. Various acting forces on tires leads to corresponding change in shape of contact patch, deflection and working area of the tires ultimately to tire and road interaction: [0014] Dynamic hybrid compounds provide better self-cleaning and self-removal of foreign objects stuck in tires. During most of the critical situations the forces experienced by the tires are also high. So when the forces experienced by the tires are beyond certain threshold value and based on the nature of the forces, DHCT works to change the contact patch and side wall deformation rate all according the magnitude and nature of the. forces acting on the tires ultimately to provide the traction and stability for the vehicles.

[0015] The DHCT utilises either hybrid compound or similar compound all according to design, configuration and scenarios. The DHCT utilises Finite Element Analysis (FEA) for predicting how a tires should react and dynamically vary its contact patch and side wall are all according to real-world forces, vibration, heat, fluid flow, and other physical effects. According to another aspect of the present invention the DHCT tires utilises either one or both but not limited to physics and chemistry of the tires to dynamically change the contact patch area in a highly controlled manner based on forces acting on tires.

[0016] No need for dedicated tire control systems, additional mechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic, electronic and electrical systems required to achieve variable foot print tires. DHCT comprises of Static Threads and Dynamic Threads where the static threads are always in contact with the surface and dynamic threads only engages and comes in contact with the surface based on the nature of forces acting on tires. Like any other pneumatic tires the DHCT tires operates between upper and lower cut-off tire pressure for optimum performance and to operate under Compliance with ETRTO, JATMA or TRA Standards. Reduces the foot print in normal situation and enhances the foot print in critical situations.

[0017] Provides reserve braking for emergency and high speed braking. Enhances channelling of water for mitigating hydroplaning or aquaplaning. DHCT has the potential to works with both pneumatic and non-pneumatic tires. Finite Element Method (FEM)/Finite Element Analysis can be utilized for designing & testing of DHCT. DHCT enhances mileage and reduces C02 emission, tire - noise, wear and tear all without compromising on reliability, safety and stability. Practical dynamic tire designs for large scale production, utilization and easy to maintenance.

[0018] The embodiments of the present invention is not limited to listed scenarios described here or its combinations and the above presented are just examples. There may be other scenarios and those who skilled in field can understand and modify, enhance, alter the herein system without departing from the scope of the invention in its widest form.

Claims

Claims:

1. Dynamic Hybrid Compound Tire (DHCT) are tire that are purposefully designed to actively align and vary the tire's contact patch area or foot print area with Static Tread(ST)/ Dynamic Tread(DT) and side wall in a highly controlled and predetermined manner according to normal and critical situations based on thresholds and magnitudes of rate of change of various torque/forces comprising but not limited to forward, reverse, vertical, horizontal and angular forces acting on the wheel tires all to enhance traction and stability in critical situation while reduce rolling resistance, reduce tire wear, reduce tire noise, enhance mileage during normal situation.

2. The DHCT tires said in Claim 1, comprises of either or more or combinations of but not limited to Dynamic Tread and Static Tread comprising:

a. Static Treads are the treads that are always in contact with surface to efficiently optimize between rolling resistance, traction, tire noise and mileage; b. Dynamic Treads are the treads that engages and comes in contact with the surface to provide enhanced traction and stability only during critical situation.

3. The DHCT tires said in Claim 1 , works based on for forces acting on wheel tires to determine which portion of tire should come in contact with road surface.

4. The DHCT tires said in Claim 1 , are fabricated with either one or more compound but not limited to soft compound to intermediate compound to hard compound.

5. The DHCT tires said in Claim 1, controls its contact patch area and side wall in a highly controlled and predetermined manner according to real-time change in tire pressure and works with Smart Active Tire Pressure Optimizing System (SATPOS).

6. The DHCT tires said in Claim 1 , works with Active Tyre Temperature Optimizing System (ATTOS).

7. DHCT tires are designed by taking various parameters but not limited to temperature, pressure, nature of various compounds, tread patterns, all possible forces with all possible angles.

8. The DHCT tires said in Claim 1 , either works with one or more but not limited to tires comprising:

a. pneumatic tyres comprising of tubeless tires, non-tubeless or tyres with tubes; b. non-pneumatic tires;

c. Run Flat Tyres (RFT), wet tires, dry tires, summer tires; and winter tyres;

d. soft compound tires, hard compound tires, slick tires and intermediate tires; e. with various patterns off treads, lugs, voids, grooves, sipes, beads, sidewalls, shoulders, plies.

9. The DHCT tires said in Claim 1, are fabricated with either one or more materials but not limited to metals, carbon fibre, Kevlar.