Pneumatic tire wheel having a deformable bladder for adjusting the inflation pressure of said pneumatic tire wheel
AssigneeVELA S.r.l.
InventorClaudio Zarotti
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Inside a tight sealed chamber defined between a rim and a tire of a pneumatic tire wheel for vehicles, there is provided a predetermined amount of a two-phase system in a substantially balanced state at the tire temperature and inflation pressure. The two-phase system comprises a liquid in a balanced state with its own vapor contained within a sealed, elastically deformable toric bladder which is mounted to the rim. By changing the amount of heat in the two-phase system so as to change its balance condition, a variation is obtained in the inflation pressure of the tire.
Claims9
A wheel for vehicles comprising a tire rim, a pneumatic tire mounted on the tire rim to define a tight sealed chamber between the rim and the pneumatic tire for inflation of said tire, a sealed elastically deformable bladder mounted on the rim in said tight sealed chamber, a predetermined amount of a two-phase system disposed in said bladder, said two-phase system including a liquid and its saturated vapor in balanced condition, and thermoelectric means for selectively changing the amount of heat in said two phase system to control the inflation pressure of the tire.
A wheel according to claim 12 wherein said spongy matrix includes a plurality of sealed, elastically deformable vesicles containing a two-phase system and being scattered through said spongy matrix.
A vehicle having a plurality of pneumatic tire wheels and control means for selectively controlling pneumatic pressure in each of said pneumatic tire wheels, each pneumatic tire wheel comprising a tire rim, a pneumatic tire mounted on the tire rim to define a tight sealed chamber between the rim and the pneumatic tire for inflation of said tire, a sealed elastically deformable bladder mounted on the rim in said tight sealed chamber, a predetermined amount of a two-phase system disposed in said bladder, said two-phase system including a liquid and its saturated vapor in balanced condition, and thermoelectric means for selectively changing the amount of heat in said two phase system to control the pneumatic pressure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.