IP Library Granted Patent US 11,364,750
Granted Patent B2
US 11,364,750 · App. 16/768,629 · Granted Jun 21, 2022

Pneumatic tire

Inventors: Ryohei Takemori (Hiratsuka, JP); Masaaki Nagayasu (Hiratsuka, JP); Yuki Sasaya (Hiratsuka, JP); Atsushi Tanno (Hiratsuka, JP); Hiraku Kouda (Hiratsuka, JP); Jun Matsuda (Hiratsuka, JP)
Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., LTD.
B60C15/04B60C15/0036B60C15/024B60C17/0009B60C2015/0245B60C2015/046B60C2015/048B60C2015/0614
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,364,750
App. No.
16/768,629
Granted
Jun 21, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

A pneumatic tire is provided. In a meridian cross-section, an external contour shape of the bead core is a polygon formed by common tangent lines of a plurality of circumferential portions of a bead wire, the external contour shape includes a single vertex located toward the outside in a tire radial direction, an internal angle formed by two sides sandwiching the vertex is an acute angle, a bottom side of the external contour shape is inclined with respect to the tire lateral direction by from 2° to 9°, and the carcass layer is bent and folded back along a circumference of the bead core in a bead portion, a folded back portion of the carcass layer from a position of an outer end of the bead core in the tire radial direction extends toward a sidewall portion in contact with a body portion.

Claims (41)

1. A pneumatic tire, comprising:

a tread portion with an annular shape that extends in a tire circumferential direction;

a pair of sidewall portions disposed on either side of the tread portion;

a pair of bead portions disposed toward the inside of the sidewall portions in a tire radial direction;

a bead core disposed in each one of the pair of bead portions;

a carcass layer mounted between the pair of bead portions; and

a side reinforcing layer having a crescent-shaped cross-section disposed toward the inside in a tire lateral direction of the carcass layer at each one of the pair of sidewall portions, wherein

the bead core comprises at least one bead wire wound in the tire circumferential direction,

in a meridian cross-section, a plurality of circumferential portions of the bead wire form at least one row in line in the tire lateral direction and a plurality of layers layered in the tire radial direction,

in a meridian cross-section, an external contour shape of the bead core is a polygon formed by common tangent lines of the circumferential portions of the bead wire, the external contour shape comprises a single vertex located toward the outside in the tire radial direction,

an internal angle formed by two sides sandwiching the vertex is an acute angle, the external contour shape comprises a bottom side located toward the inside in the tire radial direction extending at an incline with respect to the tire lateral direction, and the bottom side forms an angle with respect to the tire lateral direction from 2° to 9°;

the carcass layer comprises a body portion that extends from the tread portion, through a sidewall portion of the pair of sidewall portions, to a bead portion of the pair of bead portions, and a folded back portion that is bent and folded back along a circumference of the bead core in each one of the bead portions and is extending from a position of an outer end of the bead core in the tire radial direction toward one of the pair of sidewall portions in contact with the body portion;

a width W 1 in the tire lateral direction of an innermost layer of the bead core in the tire radial direction and a maximum width W 0 in the tire lateral direction of the bead core satisfy a relationship W 1 <W 0 ; and

in a meridian cross-section, a tire cross-sectional width T 1 along an auxiliary line A 1 and a tire cross-sectional width T 2 along an auxiliary line A 2 satisfy a relationship 0.7≤T 1 /T 2 ≤1.5,

where the auxiliary line A 1 is an auxiliary line running orthogonal to the carcass layer that passes through an intersection point P 1 of a straight line L 1 extending parallel with a tire width direction separated from a bead toe 20 mm toward the outside in the tire radial direction and a contour line of an outer surface of the sidewall portion and A 2 is an auxiliary line that passes through a center of gravity of the bead core and extends in an inclination direction of the bottom side of the external contour shape.

2. The pneumatic tire according to claim 1 , wherein

portions located between a bead toe and a bead heel of the bead portions are defined as bead base portions, and

contour lines of the bead base portions in a meridian cross-section bend and have two different taper angles.

3. The pneumatic tire according to claim 2 , wherein

a relationship 0.3≤α/β≤0.8 is satisfied,

where α is a length in the tire radial direction from an intersection point P 2 of a perpendicular line L 2 that extends to the bottom side from the vertex of the external contour shape and an outer surface of the carcass layer located toward the inside of the bead core in the tire radial direction to a bend point of contour lines of the bead base portions and β is a length in the tire radial direction from the intersection point P 2 to the bead toe.

4. The pneumatic tire according to claim 1 , wherein at least one internal angle of corner portions located on either end of the bottom side of the external contour shape is 90° or greater.

5. The pneumatic tire according to claim 1 , wherein

a distance T between intersection points P 4 and P 5 is from 3.1 mm to 4.0 mm,

where, in a meridian cross-section, P 4 is an intersection point of a straight line L 3 extending in the tire radial direction contacting with an inner side in a tire axial direction of a circumferential portion of the plurality of circumferential portions of the bead wire located innermost in the tire axial direction and an outer surface of the carcass layer 4 and P 5 is an intersection point of the straight line L 3 and a contour line of a bead base portion.

6. The pneumatic tire according to claim 1 , wherein the carcass layer comprises only one layer.

7. The pneumatic tire according to claim 1 , wherein

a rubber layer located further toward the inside in the tire radial direction than a portion of the carcass layer contacting the bottom side of the external contour shape is defined as a core lower material, and

a core lower material compression ratio Cm calculated by Formula 1 below using a thickness H of the core lower material measured along a perpendicular line L 2 from the vertex of the external contour shape to the bottom side before mounting on a rim and a thickness H′ of the core lower material measured along the perpendicular line L 2 after mounting on a rim is from 10% to 60%;

Cm =( H−H ′)/ H× 100  (1).

8. The pneumatic tire according to claim 7 , wherein

portions located between a bead toe and a bead heel of the bead portions are defined as bead base portions, and

contour lines of the bead base portions in a meridian cross-section bend and have two different taper angles.

9. The pneumatic tire according to claim 8 , wherein

a relationship 0.3≤α/β≤0.8 is satisfied,

where α is a length in the tire radial direction from an intersection point P 2 of a perpendicular line L 2 that extends to the bottom side from the vertex of the external contour shape and an outer surface of the carcass layer located toward the inside of the bead core in the tire radial direction to a bend point of a contour lines of the bead base portions and β is a length in the tire radial direction from the intersection point P 2 to the bead toe.

10. The pneumatic tire according to claim 9 , wherein at least one internal angle of corner portions located on either end of the bottom side of the external contour shape is 90° or greater.

11. The pneumatic tire according to claim 10 , wherein

a distance T between intersection points P 4 and P 5 is from 3.1 mm to 4.0 mm,

where, in a meridian cross-section, P 4 is an intersection point of a straight line L 3 extending in the tire radial direction contacting with an inner side in a tire axial direction of a circumferential portion of the plurality of circumferential portions of the bead wire located innermost in the tire axial direction and an outer surface of the carcass layer 4 and P 5 is an intersection point of the straight line L 3 and a contour line of a bead base portion.

12. The pneumatic tire according to claim 11 , wherein the carcass layer comprises only one layer.

Assignments (2)
CHANGE OF ADDRESS FOR ASSIGNEE Recorded Nov 18, 2023
From: THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO., LTD.
To: THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 065626/0740 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 29, 2020
From: TAKEMORI, RYOHEI; NAGAYASU, MASAAKI; SASAYA, YUKI; TANNO, ATSUSHI; KOUDA, HIRAKU; MATSUDA, JUN
To: THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 052794/0231 →