Bridgestone Corporation

Casio Computer Co., Ltd.

Seiko Instruments Inc

Akihiko Abe

Masashi Nishida

Takanori Shoji

Yukio Nakajima

Osamu Kuwabara

Tatsuhiko Kamegawa

Yutaka Wakabayashi

Shigeru Miyama

Kenzo Kato

Jiro Mutoh

Narumi Takahashi

A pneumatic tire includes an inner cylinder, an outer cylinder, and a connecting member. The outer cylinder and the connecting member elastically deformable, and the thickness of the thickest part of the outer cylinder is thicker than the thickness of the thickest part of the connecting member. When the outer cylinder is pushed by a protrusion and deformed toward the inside in a tire radial direction, at least a part of the connecting member, which is positioned between the protrusion and the inner cylinder, and other connecting members adjacent to the connecting member in the tire circumferential direction abut each other. When the non-pneumatic tire is mounted on a vehicle and travels on a flat contact plane, a gap is secured between the connecting member positioned between the ground plane and the inner cylinder and other connecting members adjacent to the connecting member in the tire circumferential direction.

Non-pneumatic tire

A non-pneumatic tire () includes three or more tubular bodies () and a plurality of elastically deformable connecting members () interconnecting the tubular bodies () and disposed along a tire circumferential direction in each annular space () provided between the tubular bodies () adjacent to each other in a tire radial direction. The tubular bodies () are provided with an inner tube () positioned on an innermost side in the tire radial direction and attached to an axle, an outer tube () positioned on an outermost side in the tire radial direction, and an elastically deformable intermediate tube () positioned between the inner tube () and the outer tube (). The connecting member () is provided with a pair of connecting plates (and) having both end portions in the tire radial direction directly connected to the tubular body () and extending in the tire radial direction and separated in the tire circumferential direction from an outside toward an inside in the tire radial direction. A position (P) of connection to the pair of connecting plates (and) connected to the intermediate tube () from the outside in the tire radial direction and a position (P) of connection to the pair of connecting plates (and) connected to the intermediate tube () from the inside in the tire radial direction are shifted in the tire circumferential direction in the intermediate tube ().

The present invention includes: an elastically deformable tire part () which includes an inner cylinder, an outer cylinder () configured to surround the inner cylinder from the outside in a tire radial direction, and a linking member () configured to link the inner cylinder to the outer cylinder () and a tread member () externally fitted onto the outer cylinder (), wherein an elastic modulus of a material forming the tread member () is smaller than an elastic modulus of a material forming a tire part (), an outer circumferential surface of the tread member () is formed in a curved shape in which the outer circumferential surface thereof protrudes outward in the tire radial direction when viewed in a vertical cross-sectional view in both a tire width direction and the tire radial direction, the outer cylinder () includes an outer circumferential section () positioned on a tire equatorial section, side sections () positioned on both sides in the tire width direction with respect to the outer circumferential section (), and a shoulder section () configured to connect the outer circumferential section () to the side sections (), the outer circumferential section () is formed in a straight line shape in which the outer circumferential section () extends in the tire width direction when viewed in the vertical cross-sectional view, and the shoulder section () gradually extends inward in the tire radial direction as it goes outward in the tire width direction.

According to the present invention, when a first point (P) is set on an end edge on an outer end portion () side of a coupling member () and a fifth point (P) is set on an end edge on an inner end portion () side of the coupling member (), and when a distance (H) from the fifth point (P) to the second point (P) along a reference straight line (RL) passing through the first point (P) and a tire axis is set to 0.80 times a reference distance (H) from the fifth point (P) to the first point (P) along the reference straight line, a distance (H) from the fifth point (P) to the third point along the reference straight line is set to 0.65 times the reference distance (H), and a distance (H) from the fifth point (P) to the fourth point (P) along the reference straight line is set to 0.30 times the reference distance (H), the third point (P) is disposed on the other side in the tire circumferential direction of an overall inclined straight line (SL) passing through the first point (P) and the fifth point (P), and a horizontal distance (D) between the second point (P) and the third point (P) in a perpendicular direction (D) perpendicular to the reference straight line (RL) is larger than each of a horizontal distance Dbetween the first point (P) and the second point (P) in the perpendicular direction (D) and a horizontal distance (D) between the fourth point (P) and the fifth point (P) in the perpendicular direction (D).

Provided is a non-pneumatic tire including an attachment body attached to an axle, an outer tubular body () configured to surround the attachment body from the outside in a tire radial direction, and a connecting member () configured to connect the attachment body and the outer tubular body while allowing displacement therebetween, wherein the connecting member includes a first elastic connecting plate () in which a first end portion () connected to the outer tubular body is disposed closer to a first side in a tire circumferential direction than a second end portion connected to the attachment body and an intermediate portion () is disposed between the first end portion and the second end portion, and both of circumferential end surface () directed in the tire circumferential direction among surfaces of the first end portion of the first elastic connecting plate extend in opposite directions in the tire circumferential direction to be separated from each other from the inside toward the outside in the tire radial direction.

Provided is a non-pneumatic tire in which a plurality of curved sections () to (f) and () to () curved inward in a tire circumferential direction are formed at elastic connecting plates () and () in an extension direction in which the elastic connecting plates () and () extend when seen in a tire side view such that curved directions are alternately opposite to each other in the extension direction, outer curved sections () and (), inner curved sections () and (), and extension sections () () extending throughout both of the curved sections and in which inflection sections () and () formed between both of the curved sections are disposed, are formed at the elastic connecting plates () and (), and the extension sections () and () extend along reference lines having radii of curvature larger than that of the outer curved sections () and () and the inner curved sections () and () when seen in the tire side view and extend from first end portions () and () of the elastic connecting plates () and () connected to an outer tubular body () to arrive at a central portion in at least the extension direction.

In a non-pneumatic tire, a plurality of first to third curved sections () to () and () to () curved in a tire circumferential direction are formed at first and second elastic connecting plates () and () in an extension direction in which the first and second elastic connecting plates extend, in a tire side view when a non-pneumatic tire () is seen from a tire width direction (H), curved directions of the first to third curved sections neighboring in the extension direction are opposite to each other, and each of the first and second elastic connecting plates, and inflection sections (), (), () and () disposed between the first to third curved sections neighboring in the extension direction has a smaller cross-sectional area than other portions.

A non-pneumatic tire (), includes: a mount body () that is mounted on a shaft (S); an outer cylindrical body () encircling the mount body from outside thereof in a radial direction of the tire; connecting members () arranged in a circumferential direction of the tire therebetween and connecting the mount body and the outer cylindrical body such that the mount body and the outer cylindrical body are resiliently movable relative to each other; and a cylindrical tread portion () encircling the outer cylindrical body from outside thereof in the radial direction of the tire. In addition, the outline of a cross-section of an outer surface () of a central area () of the tread portion taken in a width direction of the tire is a curved line bulging outward in the radial direction of the tire, and the central area includes at least a tire equator (E).

A non-pneumatic tire () of the present invention includes an attachment body () attached to an axle, a ring-shaped body () which surrounds the attachment body () from the outside in a tire radial direction, and coupling members () which displaceably couple the attachment body () to the ring-shaped body (), wherein a plurality of coupling members () are arranged in a tire circumferential direction and include elastic coupling plates (and) whose opposite ends are respectively coupled to the attachment body () and the ring-shaped body (), and a bending rigidity EI1 of the elastic coupling plates (and) represented by E1&#xd7;W1&#xd7;t1/12 when the average thickness in the tire circumferential direction is t1 (mm), the average width in a tire width direction H is W1 (mm), and the Young's modulus is E1 (MPa) is smaller than the bending rigidity EI2 of the ring-shaped body () represented by E2&#xd7;W2&#xd7;t2/12 when the average thickness in the tire radial direction is t2 (mm), the average width in the tire width direction H is W2 (mm), and the Young's modulus is E2 (MPa).

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Tokyo, Japan

Akihiko Abe