Compagnie Generale Des Etablissements Michelin

Michelin Recherche Et Technique S.a.

Victor Abarotin

Stefan Voss

Fang Zhu

Daniel McEachern Hicks

Jeremy Trowbridge

Arthur Rade

David C Lung

Philip Kovanis

Brian P Gannon

Craig M Jurs

A tread for a heavy truck tire that has a rib is provided. A sipe is located in the rib and extends from a first lateral surface to a second lateral surface. A first end of a teardrop of the sipe is located at the first lateral surface, and a second end is at the second lateral surface. A middle section is located between the first and second ends, and a lateral midpoint of the teardrop is located at the middle section. A cross-section of the middle section at the lateral midpoint is greater in size than a cross-section of the first end. The cross-section of the middle section at the lateral midpoint is greater in size than a cross-section of the second end.

Tire sipe design with variable teardrop size having larger lateral midpoint

A heavy truck tire tread that has a rib is provided. A sipe is in the rib that extends from a first lateral surface to a second lateral surface. A first end of a teardrop is located at the first lateral surface, and a second end at the second lateral surface. A middle section of the teardrop is located between the first and second ends in the lateral direction. A first transition is located between the first end and the middle section, and a second transition is located between the second end and the middle section and they both extend in the lateral and thickness directions. The entire middle section is farther from the upper surface in the thickness direction than any portion of the first or second ends are to the upper surface in the thickness direction.

Tire sipe for heavy truck tread having handlebar shape

The invention provides for a heavy truck tire tread () having a longitudinal direction (X), a lateral direction (Y) and a thickness direction (Z), said tread comprising:

Heavy truck tire tread and heavy truck tire

A tread () for a heavy truck tire is provided that has an upper surface for engaging the ground, a leading edge, and a trailing edge forward of the leading edge in a rolling direction. The tread also has a J shaped sipe () that has a main portion () that extends from the upper surface. The main portion () has an opening at the upper surface and a bottom end () opposite the opening in a radial direction. A curved portion () extends from the bottom end () and has a bottom curved wall () that has a radius (r). The curved portion () extends from the bottom end () forward in the rolling direction (), and has a curved portion end ().

Truck tire tread with J shaped sipe

A tread () for a heavy truck tire is provided that has a bottom surface (), a shoulder rib (), and a sacrificial rib () located outboard from the shoulder rib () in a width direction. A decoupling void () is located between the shoulder rib () and the sacrificial rib (). A decoupling void sipe () is in the shoulder rib () and opens at the shoulder rib upper surface () and at the decoupling void (). The decoupling void sipe () extends in the thickness direction and is closer to the bottom surface () than the decoupling void () in the thickness direction.

Truck tire tread with decoupling void and associated decoupling void sipe

A heavy truck tire directional tread is provided that has two successive asymmetrical sipes (14) in the longitudinal direction that share at least some of the same offset from a tread edge in the lateral direction. Each of the two asymmetrical sipes (14) has a body (28) and a tear drop (30). The surface of the bottom of the sipe (14) has a radius of curvature that is not the same along the entire surface of the bottom. The geometry of the sipes resists crack initiation and propagation and is governed by the equation R>1-4×R, wherein Ris the average radius of a particular portion of the bottom of the sipe, and Rref is a reference radius of the bottom of the sipe.

Heavy truck tire tread and heavy truck tire with asymmetrical tear drop sipes

Tire

A tire is provided having a tread region that includes continuous ribs which extend diagonally across the transverse direction of the tire. Partial sipes are provided at the trailing edges of the ribs. Full sipes can also be provided with the partial sipes. The ribs may form various patterns such as e.g., an S-shaped pattern, chevron pattern, and others. The tire provides improved traction performance over non-diagonal ribs while still providing desirable rolling resistance performance and control of irregular wear.

Growing community of inventors

Greer, SC, United States of America

Victor Abarotin