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US 11,685,194 B2Granted
Tire
AssigneeSumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.
InventorAtsushi Maehara
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tire includes a tread portion provided with a plurality of blocks. At least one of the plurality of blocks is provided with a sipe. The sipe extends in a sipe longitudinal direction to form a zigzag opening configuration on a ground contact surface of the at least one of the plurality of blocks. The sipe extends inwardly in a tire radial direction such that the zigzag opening configuration oscillates in the sipe longitudinal direction repeatedly with a total amplitude and a wavelength while maintaining the zigzag opening configuration. A half of the wavelength of the sipe is in a range of from 0.10 to 0.24 times a maximum depth of the sipe, and a slope of the half of the wavelength with respect to the total amplitude has an angle in a range of from 45 to 65 degrees.
Claims21
A heavy-duty tire comprising:
- a tread portion being provided with four main grooves and a plurality of lateral grooves to define five block rows comprising a crown block row arranged on a tire equator, a pair of middle block rows arranged axially outwardly of the crown block row, and a pair of shoulder block rows arranged axially outwardly of the pair of middle block rows,
- wherein
- the crown block row comprises a plurality of crown blocks,
- each of the plurality of crown blocks comprises a ground contact surface having a barrel type hexagonal shape that protrudes axially outwardly in a block width direction to form a pair of axially spaced first and second peak portions of the crown block,
- the ground contact surface of each of the plurality of crown blocks comprises
- a first long edge extending from the first peak portion toward a first side in a tire circumferential direction,
- a first short edge being shorter than the first long edge of the crown block and extending from the first peak portion toward a second side in the tire circumferential direction,
- a second short edge extending from the second peak portion toward the first side in the tire circumferential direction, and
- a second long edge being longer than the second short edge of the crown block and extending from the second peak portion toward the second side in the tire circumferential direction,
- a ratio L1/L2 between a circumferential length L1 of the first long edge and a circumferential length L2 of the first short edge is equal to or less than 1.15,
- a ratio L3/L4 between a circumferential length L3 of the second long edge and a circumferential length L4 of the second short edge is equal to or less than 1.15,
- each of the plurality of crown blocks is provided with a crown sipe extending from a first end to a second end to traverse the crown block completely in the tire axial direction,
- the first end of the crown sipe is located within 2 mm in the tire circumferential direction from the first peak portion of the crown block,
- the second end of the crown sipe is located within 2 mm in the tire circumferential direction from the second peak portion of the crown block, and
- each crown sipe is provided such that a sipe longitudinal direction of the crown sipe is in a range of from 5 to 10 degrees with respect to the tire axial direction.
12 more elements
A heavy-duty tire comprising:
- a tread portion provided with four main grooves and a plurality of lateral grooves to define five block rows comprising a crown block row arranged on a tire equator, a pair of middle block rows arranged axially outwardly of the crown block row, and a pair of shoulder block rows arranged axially outwardly of the pair of middle block rows, wherein
- the pair of middle block rows comprises a plurality of middle blocks,
- each of the plurality of middle blocks comprises a ground contact surface having a barrel type hexagonal shape that protrudes axially outwardly in a block width direction to form a pair of axially spaced first and second peak portions of the middle block,
- the ground contact surface of each of the plurality of middle blocks comprises
- a first long edge extending from the first peak portion toward a first side in a tire circumferential direction,
- a first short edge being shorter than the first long edge and extending from the first peak portion toward a second side in the tire circumferential direction,
- a second long edge extending from the second peak portion toward the first side in the tire circumferential direction, and
- a second short edge being shorter than the second long edge and extending from the second peak portion toward the second side in the tire circumferential direction,
- a ratio L5/L6 between a circumferential length L5 of the first long edge and a circumferential length L6 of the first short edge is equal to or less than 1.15,
- a ratio L7/L8 between a circumferential length L7 of the second long edge and a circumferential length L8 of the second short edge is equal to or less than 1.15,
- the crown block row comprises a plurality of crown blocks,
- each of the plurality of crown blocks comprises a ground contact surface having a barrel type hexagonal shape that protrudes axially outwardly in a block width direction to form a pair of axially spaced first and second peak portions of the crown block,
- the ground contact surface of each of the plurality of crown blocks comprises
- a first long edge extending from the first peak portion toward the first side in the tire circumferential direction,
- a first short edge being shorter than the first long edge of the crown block and extending from the first peak portion toward the second side in the tire circumferential direction,
- a second short edge extending from the second peak portion toward the first side in the tire circumferential direction, and
- a second long edge being longer than the second short edge of the crown block and extending from the second peak portion toward the second side in the tire circumferential direction,
- each of the plurality of crown blocks is provided with a crown sipe extending from a first end to a second end to traverse the crown block completely in the tire axial direction,
- the first end of the crown sipe is located within 2 mm in the tire circumferential direction from the first peak portion of the crown block,
- the second end of the crown sipe is located within 2 mm in the tire circumferential direction from the second peak portion of the crown block, and
- each crown sipe is provided such that a sipe longitudinal direction of the crown sipe is in a range of from 5 to 10 degrees with respect to the tire axial direction.
18 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.