TIRE WITH COMPLEX BELTS
A tire comprises at least a left tread portion, a right tread portion, wherein the left tread portion and the right tread portion are axially separated by a longitudinally oriented groove. A tread reinforcement comprises a plurality of tread reinforcing layers wherein the reinforcement elements are formed of parallel reinforcements arranged in opposing layers, and each of the opposing layers has a bias angle relative to the circumferential direction. The bias angles of the reinforcement elements in each of the tread reinforcing layers corresponds to a plurality of equilibrium membrane shapes determined from membrane equilibrium equations that are joined together to create a continuous, complex shape.
1 . A tire comprising a tread having at least a left tread portion, a right tread portion, wherein the right tread portion and the left tread portion are axially separated by a longitudinally oriented groove;
a carcass layer comprising a plurality of reinforcing cords to form a left sidewall and a right sidewall, the reinforcing cords of the carcass layer are anchored, respectively, in a left bead portion and a right bead portion;
the left sidewall extending radially to join the left tread portion and the right sidewall extending radially to join the right tread portion, and when the tire is mounted on a rim, the tread portions, the left sidewall and the right sidewall, the left bead portion and the right bead portion enclose a cavity by which the tire is inflated for operation under various applied loads;
a tread reinforcement extending in an axial direction of the tire comprising a plurality of tread reinforcing layers wherein a plurality of reinforcement elements are formed of parallel reinforcements arranged in opposing layers, and each of the opposing layers has a bias angle β relative to a circumferential direction of the tire, and;
the bias angles β of the reinforcement elements in each of the tread reinforcing layers corresponds to a plurality of equilibrium membrane shapes determined from membrane equilibrium equations that are joined together to create a continuous, complex shape.
2 . The tire according to claim 1 , wherein a central tread reinforcing layer corresponding to the longitudinally oriented groove has a concave shape and a bias angle β 1 that is less a bias angle β 2 of both a left tread reinforcing layer and a right tread reinforcing layer, and a crown radius of the central tread reinforcing layer is less than a crown radius of the left tread reinforcing layer and less than a crown radius of the right tread reinforcing layer.
3 . The tire according to claim 2 , wherein one of the left tread reinforcing layer and the right tread reinforcing layer has a convex shape.
4 . The tire according to claim 1 , wherein the bias angle β of the reinforcement elements is equal and opposite in the opposing layers.
5 . The tire according to claim 1 , further wherein one or more of the tread reinforcing layers has a continuously varying bias angle β of the reinforcement elements in the axial direction of the tire.
6 . The tire according to claim 1 , wherein the tread reinforcing layer comprises a plurality of elements in each of the tread reinforcing layers extending nonlinearly and with a variable bias angle β in the axial direction.
7 . The tire according to claim 1 , wherein the tread reinforcement is a single, unitary or continuous, tread reinforcing layer extending a width of the tire in which the bias angles β of the reinforcement elements are continuously variable in the axial direction.
8 . The tire according to claim 7 , wherein the tread reinforcement comprises a left outer convex section, a left flat section, and a left inner convex section, a left inner concave section, a central section, a right inner concave section, a right inner convex section, a right flat section, and a right outer convex section.
9 . There tire according to claim 1 , wherein the tread reinforcement further comprises a left tread reinforcing layer in the left tread portion, a right tread reinforcing layer in the right tread portion and a central tread reinforcing layer radially inward of the longitudinally oriented groove.
10 . The tire according to claim 9 , wherein the left tread reinforcing layer and the right tread reinforcing layer have a convex shape and the central tread reinforcing layer has a convex shape.
11 . The tire according to claim 1 , wherein a shape of the tread reinforcing layers in the left tread portion and the right tread portion has a convex shape and is joined laterally to a central tread reinforcing layer having a concave shape to form a tread reinforcement extending a width of the tire.
12 . The tire according to claim 1 , wherein a central groove has a depth in the radial direction greater than a wearable tread depth of the tire.
13 . The tire according to claim 1 , wherein the tread reinforcing layers further comprises a plurality of belt plies and a joint between the belt plies of adjacent tread reinforcing layers has an overlap portion of the belt plies.
14 . The tire according to claim 13 , wherein the number of belt plies in the overlap portion remains constant across the joint.
15 . The tire according to claim 12 , wherein the number of belt plies in an overlap portion is greater than the number of belt plies in any of the tread reinforcing layers.
16 . The tire according to claim 1 , wherein the longitudinally oriented groove has a depth in the radial direction greater than a wearable tread depth of the tire as defined by industry standard tread wear indicators.
17 . The tire according to claim 1 , wherein the further comprises a plurality of longitudinally oriented grooves and each of the longitudinally oriented grooves is separated laterally by a tread potion.