JPS5818841B2 - Zero pressure tire that can collect current - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a novel tire that is capable of collecting current to a vehicle by providing an electrode in a portion of the tread portion.

Vehicles for urban transportation systems that have appeared in recent years, such as mole rail cars and CVCs (computer controllers)
Dedicated track vehicles such as vehicle systems usually use electricity as a power source and travel along dedicated guideways.

In this case, current is collected from a dedicated power transmission line using a current collector such as a Punkgraph, as in general trains, subways, trolleybuses, etc.

Incidentally, this type of urban transportation system vehicle uses auxiliary guide wheels in addition to the main wheels that bear the load.

A rubber tire is generally used as this guide wheel.

If this guide wheel could have a current collecting function, a special current collector would be unnecessary, and the guideway could also be used as a power supply path, resulting in significant savings in terms of materials and costs.

However, since a rubber tire is used as the guide wheel as described above, it is difficult to provide it with a current collecting function, and at present, a special current collector is unavoidably used.

For this reason, a tire has been proposed in which a large number of grooves extending in the width direction of the tire are formed on the ground contact surface and conducting wires are provided in the grooves.

However, this tire has disadvantages in that it generates noise when the conducting wire comes into contact with and separates from the power supply path, is easy to cut, and has poor current collection efficiency because the conducting wire and the power supply furnace are in line contact.

Although it is possible to use a metal wheel, which is a good conductor of electricity, as the guide wheel, it is not generally used because it does not have elasticity like a rubber tire.

In response to the above-mentioned demands7, a pneumatic tire with a profile similar to that of general vehicle tires was proposed, and a current-collecting tire was proposed in which a conductive rubber was provided in the tread (Japanese Patent Application No. 100232/1983). reference).

Although the tire according to this prior application has a somewhat satisfactory current collecting function, the following additional requirements have arisen in order to use it as a guide wheel as described above.

In other words, there is a demand for tires that do not use air for maintenance purposes, and a demand for tires to be as small as possible in order to reduce the guide path and reduce facility costs.

One possible solution to this problem is to use solid tires that do not use air, but solid tires are unsatisfactory in terms of high-speed durability and have a higher longitudinal spring constant than pneumatic tires. Construction 1: There is a problem that vibrations due to unevenness due to accuracy cannot be absorbed, and the current collection function may be inhibited.In order to prevent this, the higher the construction accuracy of the guide path, the higher the cost will be.

The present invention satisfies the above requirements, that is, reduces the outer diameter of the tire, keeps the tire longitudinal spring constant low, and
The present invention aims to provide an elastic tire that is capable of collecting current and has excellent high-speed durability.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a tire body, which is composed of a tread portion 2 and a sidewall portion 3.

The sidewall portion 3 has at least one inwardly directed bend 4.

The reason for providing such a bent portion 4 is to make the outer diameter of the tire as small as possible and to obtain good elasticity.

That is, in order to make the tire outer diameter as small as possible, it is generally necessary to reduce the rim diameter or the tire cross-sectional height.

However, due to various conditions, a demand arises to reduce the tire cross-sectional height while keeping the rim diameter the same.

In such cases, if the tire cross-sectional height is reduced, the elasticity of the tire generally decreases.

In order to prevent this decrease in elasticity, it is possible to reduce the thickness of the tire wall in the sidewall section or reduce the rigidity of the tire constituent materials, but such measures also reduce the durability of the tire. 3. In order to solve these problems, reduce the cross-sectional height of the tire, and obtain good elasticity, a bent portion 4 as shown in the figure is formed in the sidewall portion 3.

Although only one bent portion 4 is provided in the illustrated example, two or more bent portions 4 may be provided to form a bellows-like structure.

Although the current-collecting tire of the present invention is hollow, it is a so-called zero-pressure tire that does not maintain its shape by filling with air pressure, but maintains its shape and supports the load by the rigidity of the tire constituent materials. be.

Therefore, the tire body does not have a carcass layer made of cord like conventional pneumatic tires for general passenger cars, and the tire shape is maintained and the load is supported by the rigidity of the constituent materials of the body.

As a constituent material of the tire body 1, a relatively hard elastomer material having high expansion force and bimodulus is used.

The elastomer material may be selected from natural rubber, synthetic rubber, synthetic resin, etc., but a liquid elastomer material is preferably used from the viewpoint of the manufacturing process.

Bead portions 5, 5 are formed at both end edges of the side wall 3.

In the illustrated example, a bead wire is not provided in the bead portion, but if the constituent material of the tire body 1 is relatively soft, it is desirable to provide a bead wire to improve the fit with the rim.

The tread portion 2 of the tire body 1 has a good electrical conductor,
For example, an electrode 6 made of copper, aluminum, zinc, carbon, etc. is buried with its surface exposed.

Alternatively, conductive rubber may be used for the electrode 6 as in the prior invention.

In the illustrated example, the electrodes 6 are arranged in two strips in two rows.
The electrodes are not limited to this, and for example, the electrodes may be arranged in one or more rows in a strip shape, or any number of linear electrodes may be arranged.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a conductive wire connected to the electrode 6, which guides electricity from the electrode 6 to a predetermined position.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to collect current from the electrode buried in the tread, and since at least one bent part is provided in the sidewall, the outer diameter of the tire can be reduced and no air pressure is used. However, it is possible to obtain sufficient longitudinal elasticity, and therefore the contact condition with the power supply line is good.
Electrically, it has a good current collecting function, and mechanically, it has good durability and can function as a guide ring.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional perspective view showing an embodiment of the elastic tire according to the present invention.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pair of sidewall portions following the tire tread portion are formed with bent portions that are symmetrically bent inward to form an open leg shape from the lower end of the sidewall portion to the beat portion,
A zero-pressure tire capable of collecting current, characterized in that an electrode continuous in the circumferential direction of the tire is embedded in the ground contact part of the tire tread part.