KR102730060B1 - A pneumatic tire - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire with reduced driving noise, and more specifically, to a pneumatic tire with wings that function as vortex generators to minimize air resistance during driving. Accordingly, the present invention provides a pneumatic tire comprising a tread portion (100), a sidewall portion (200), and a bead portion (300), characterized in that wings (400) are installed at equal intervals along a circumference of a portion of the sidewall portion (200) adjacent to the tread portion (100).

Description

Pneumatic tire {A PNEUMATIC TIRE}

The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire that reduces driving noise, and more specifically, to a pneumatic tire that minimizes air resistance during driving by installing a wing that functions as a vortex generator.

The sidewall of conventional tires is formed to emphasize only the design aspect rather than the performance aspect, and only the sidewall of some LT Metric standard tires has a block-shaped structure to emphasize the tire concept. Conventional tires do not have a structure in the sidewall that considers the performance aspect as above, or are used only to emphasize the concept through the design aspect, so there was a problem that the air resistance generated from the side of the tire could not be reduced. In addition, since the effect of controlling the air flow was low, the friction between the sidewall and the air was extreme, causing the tire to vibrate, and there was a problem that the noise generated through such vibrating could not be controlled.

Below, related prior arts will be examined. The identification codes described in the following prior arts are unrelated to the present invention.

Korean Patent No. 10-1388397 'Anti-splashing pneumatic tire' discloses a splashing-proof pneumatic tire, characterized in that a belt portion made of a plurality of belts is laminated between a carcass and a tread, a rubber film layer is formed protruding on the outer end of the sidewall toward the bead portion at a position in a straight line with the edge of the belt portion, and the rubber film layer is composed of a plurality of rubber films spirally wound in the direction of the circumference of the tire. The tire of No. 10-1388397 discloses a technology capable of preventing splashing while dissipating heat generated at the edge of the belt portion.

Korean Patent No. 10-1496026, "Pneumatic tire having double anti-splash protrusions", relates to a pneumatic tire having double anti-splash protrusions, in which a first anti-splash protrusion is positioned closer to a tread portion along an edge of a sidewall portion and a second anti-splash protrusion is formed facing the first anti-splash protrusion and positioned at a set distance apart from it. The pneumatic tire according to the present invention can prevent the splash phenomenon more effectively than the prior art and has the effect of protecting the sidewall portion.

However, the structure formed on the side wall described in the above prior documents is not intended to control airflow, but to prevent water splashing, and thus is significantly different in purpose and effect from the present invention.

Korean Patent No. 10-1388397 'Splash-prevention pneumatic tire' (Announcement date April 22, 2014) Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1496026 'Pneumatic tire with double anti-splash protrusions' (Announcement date February 26, 2015)

The technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is to provide a pneumatic tire that prevents peeling from the tire surface by controlling the flow of air and preventing reverse flow at the rear end of the tire, reduces friction between air, prevents noise, and improves rolling resistance and driving performance.

The technical problems to be achieved by the present invention are not limited to the technical problems mentioned above, and other technical problems not mentioned can be clearly understood by a person having ordinary skill in the technical field to which the present invention belongs from the description below.

In order to achieve the above technical task, one embodiment of the present invention provides a pneumatic tire comprising a tread portion (100), a sidewall portion (200), and a bead portion (300), wherein wings (400) are installed at equal intervals along a circumference of a portion adjacent to the tread portion (100) of the sidewall portion (200).

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the present invention has a wing structure in the form of a vortex generator on the sidewall. Compared to conventional tires, air flows in the opposite direction of the vehicle's travel direction due to the wing, and the vortex generated by passing through the wing prevents reverse flow of air and prevents peeling from the tire surface, thereby reducing air resistance.

In addition, as the above eddy current prevents backflow and separation, it has the effect of reducing noise caused by friction between the sidewall and the air, and has the effect of improving the rolling resistance, steering performance (ride), and comfortable driving performance (comfort) of the tire.

Furthermore, the present invention has the effect of reducing the burden on stability and the load received by tires during driving by controlling the size and angle of the wing, which is a vortex generator, to obtain a downforce or buoyancy effect.

The effects of the present invention are not limited to the effects described above, and should be understood to include all effects that can be inferred from the detailed description of the present invention or the composition of the invention described in the claims.

Figure 1 is a side view of the pneumatic tire of the present invention.
Figure 2 is an enlarged view of a side view of a main part of the pneumatic tire of the present invention.
Figure 3 is a perspective view of a main part of a wing of the pneumatic tire of the present invention.
Figure 4 is a front view of the main part of the pneumatic tire of the present invention.
Figure 5 is an explanatory diagram explaining the air flow during driving of a conventional tire.
Figure 6 is an explanatory diagram explaining the air flow during driving of the pneumatic tire of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings. However, the present invention can be implemented in various different forms, and therefore is not limited to the embodiments described herein. In addition, in order to clearly describe the present invention in the drawings, parts that are not related to the description are omitted, and similar parts are assigned similar drawing reference numerals throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when a part is said to be "connected (connected, contacted, joined)" to another part, this includes not only the case where it is "directly connected" but also the case where it is "indirectly connected" with another member in between. Also, when a part is said to "include" a certain component, this does not mean that other components are excluded, unless otherwise specifically stated, but that other components can be included.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention. The singular expression includes the plural expression unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. As used herein, the terms "comprises" or "has" and the like are intended to specify the presence of a feature, number, step, operation, component, part or combination thereof described in the specification, but should be understood to not exclude in advance the possibility of the presence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts or combinations thereof.

Fig. 1 is a side view of a pneumatic tire of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of the side view of the pneumatic tire of the present invention. The present invention controls the air flow around the tire during driving by installing a structure that functions as a vortex generator on the sidewall. Accordingly, the present invention provides a pneumatic tire comprising a tread portion (100), a sidewall portion (200), and a bead portion (300), in which wings (400) are installed at equal intervals along a circumference of a portion adjacent to the tread portion (100) of the sidewall portion (200). Compared to conventional tires, the air flows in the opposite direction of the vehicle's direction of travel by the wings (400) in the form of a vortex generator on the sidewall portion (200), and the eddy current generated by passing through the wings prevents the air from flowing backwards and prevents peeling from the tire surface, thereby reducing air resistance.

In order to implement this effect, it is preferable that the wing (400) is configured to include, as illustrated in FIG. 3, an upper curved portion (410), a lower curved portion (420) connected to the upper curved portion (410) at a front end that receives air resistance, and a rear curved portion (430) connecting the rear end of the upper curved portion (410) and the rear end of the lower curved portion (420).

The reason why the structure of the wing (400), which is a vortex generator, was chosen to be in an upwardly curved shape is because a flat bottom structure produces a considerable amount of lift and obstructs the flow of air. When a large amount of lift is generated as described above, the downforce effect is low. In addition, the flat structure causes a phenomenon of collision with the air, which generates a lot of resistance.

In airfoils where vortex generator structures are commonly used, different types of vortex generator structures are selected depending on performance. In the present invention, the driving stability and air resistance reduction effects are aimed at by providing downforce to tires, and accordingly, a vortex generator structure with an upwardly curved shape is selected.

As an example, it is preferable that the pitch (a) between each of the wings (400) is 20 to 30 mm, and that each of the wings (400) has a horizontal length (b) of 20 to 30 mm. When the pitch length on the mold is less than 25 mm, the length of the corresponding pitch can be applied to the horizontal length. At this time, the horizontal length (b) is based on the point where the horizontal ends of the wings (400) are lowered from the perpendicular to the tangent line on the circumference of the tire when the wings (400) are formed on the sidewall portion (200) of the tire. The optimal length of the pitch (a) is 25 mm. When the length of the pitch (a) exceeds 25 mm, the surface area that rubs against the air increases, which increases air resistance, which may actually result in a deterioration of driving performance.

In addition, the vertical length (c) of the wing (400) is preferably 10 to 15% of the tire tread width (tw), as shown in FIG. 4. The optimal vertical length (c) is 12% of the tread width. If the vertical length (c) is set to a length greater than 12%, air resistance increases, and there is a concern that the bending fatigue resistance may be reduced by affecting the flexure movement of the sidewall portion (200) beyond the shoulder portion. The vertical length (c) is based on the point where both vertical ends of the wing (400) drop below the perpendicular to the line perpendicular to the tangent line on the circumference.

In addition, as shown in Fig. 3, the width (d) of the wing (400) is preferably 1 to 3 mm. The optimal width (d) is 2 mm, and air resistance increases at a length greater than 2 mm, and it is difficult to control the air flow as the air flows away from the tire sidewall (200).

Fig. 5 is a diagram explaining the airflow of a conventional tire while driving, and Fig. 6 is a diagram explaining the airflow of a pneumatic tire of the present invention while driving. In Fig. 5, reverse flow occurs at the rear of the tire, causing vibration and noise in the tire. However, as shown in Fig. 6, the present invention can expect the effect of reducing air resistance by preventing reverse flow of air through the eddies generated by passing through the wings (400) and preventing separation from the tire surface.

The above description of the present invention is for illustrative purposes, and those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention can be easily modified into other specific forms without changing the technical idea or essential characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are exemplary in all respects and not restrictive. For example, each component described as a single component may be implemented in a distributed manner, and likewise, components described as distributed may be implemented in a combined form.

The scope of the present invention is indicated by the claims described below, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalent concepts should be interpreted as being included in the scope of the present invention.

100. Treadboo
200. Sidewall
300. Beadbu
400. Wings
410. Top curved surface
420. Lower curved surface
430. Rear curved surface

Claims (6)

In a pneumatic tire comprising a tread portion (100), a sidewall portion (200), and a bead portion (300),
Wings (400) are installed at equal intervals along the circumference of the sidewall (200) adjacent to the tread (100),
The above wing (400) includes an upper curved portion (410), a lower curved portion (420) connected to the upper curved portion (410) at a front end that receives air resistance, and a rear curved portion (430) connecting the rear end of the upper curved portion (410) and the rear end of the lower curved portion (420).
The upper curved portion (410), the lower curved portion (420), and the rear curved portion (430) each have the same width,
An air tire characterized in that the widths of the upper curved portion (410), the lower curved portion (420), and the rear curved portion (430) are formed to be constant.
delete In the first paragraph,
An air tire characterized in that the pitch (a) between each wing (400) is 20 to 30 mm.
In the third paragraph,
An air tire characterized in that each of the above wings (400) has a horizontal length (b) of 20 to 30 mm.
In paragraph 4,
A pneumatic tire characterized in that the vertical length (c) of the above wing (400) is 10 to 15% of the tread width (tw).
In paragraph 5,
An air tire characterized in that the width (d) of the above wing (400) is 1 to 3 mm.

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