Heavy duty pneumatic tire

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10040320-B2
Application number	US-201515328468-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 23, 2015
Priority date	Jul 23, 2014
Publication date	Aug 7, 2018
Grant date	Aug 7, 2018

Abstract

The present technology provides a heavy duty pneumatic tire with a tread portion having a tread pattern including: a pair of circumferential primary grooves defined in a wave-like shape and extending in the tire circumferential direction; center lug grooves; center blocks; and circumferential secondary grooves extending in regions of the center blocks and open to the center lug grooves. The center lug grooves have two groove turning portions turned in a bend shape or a curved shape. The circumferential secondary grooves extend in an inclined manner relative to the tire circumferential direction. An inclination angle (θ4) of the circumferential secondary grooves relative to the tire circumferential direction is different from an inclination angle (θ1) of portions of the circumferential primary grooves relative to the tire circumferential direction, the portions extending toward the same side as a side in the tire width direction, toward which the circumferential secondary grooves are inclined.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A heavy duty pneumatic tire provided with a tread pattern, the heavy duty pneumatic tire comprising:
a tread portion having a tread pattern including:
a plurality of center lug grooves provided at intervals in a tire circumferential direction that cross a tire equator line, the plurality of center lug grooves each including two ends disposed in half-tread regions on a first side and a second side of a tire equator line in a tire width direction, and extending in the half-tread regions;
a plurality of shoulder lug grooves provided at intervals in the tire circumferential direction in each of the half-tread regions extending toward an outer side in the tire width direction, and each including an end on an outer side in the tire width direction opened to a ground contact edge on either side of both sides in the tire width direction,
a position of an end of each of the plurality of shoulder lug grooves on an inner side in the tire width direction being further to an outer side in the tire width direction than a position of each of the two ends of each of the plurality of center lug grooves in the tire width direction,
the plurality of shoulder lug grooves each being provided one by one between adjacent center lug grooves in the tire circumferential direction of the plurality of center lug grooves, the adjacent center lug grooves being adjacent to each other in the tire circumferential direction;

a pair of circumferential primary grooves provided in each of the half-tread regions and defined in a wave-like shape in the tire circumferential direction, the pair of circumferential primary grooves each including
a first groove turning portion disposed therein in a bent shape or a curved shape toward an outer side in the tire width direction and
a second groove turning portion disposed therein in a bent shape or a curved shape toward an inner side in the tire width direction such that the pair of circumferential primary grooves each alternatingly connect the ends of the center lug grooves and the ends of the shoulder lug grooves on the inner side in the tire width direction,
the pair of circumferential primary grooves having a groove width less than a groove width of the plurality of shoulder lug grooves;

a plurality of center blocks each defined by the plurality of center lug groove and the pair of circumferential primary grooves and formed in a row in the tire circumferential direction; and
a circumferential secondary groove extending in a region of each of the plurality of center blocks and opened to the center lug grooves in contact with one of the plurality of center blocks, the circumferential secondary groove having a groove depth less than a deepest groove depth of the pair of the circumferential primary grooves and a deepest groove depth of the plurality of the center lug grooves;
the plurality of center lug grooves each including two groove turning portions where each center lug groove turns in a bent shape or a curved shape;
the circumferential secondary groove extending in an inclined manner relative to the tire circumferential direction and connecting between a third groove turning portion among the groove turning portions of one of the plurality of center lug grooves in contact with one of the plurality of center blocks and a fourth groove turning portion among the groove turning portions of another of the plurality of center lug grooves in contact with the one of the plurality of center blocks;
the plurality of circumferential primary grooves and the circumferential secondary groove being inclined relative to the tire circumferential direction;
the plurality of circumferential primary grooves each including a section inclined toward a side in the tire width direction identical with the circumferential secondary groove;
an inclination angle θ 1 of the section relative to the tire circumferential direction being different from an inclination angle θ 4 of the circumferential secondary groove relative to the tire circumferential direction; and
for a deepest groove depth D 4 of the circumferential secondary groove and a deepest groove depth D 3 of each of the plurality of center lug grooves, a ratio D 4 /D 3 being from 0.20 to 0.50.

2. The heavy duty pneumatic tire according to claim 1 , wherein
on the first side, the third groove turning portion of each of the plurality center lug grooves is bent or curved protruding out toward a third side in the tire circumferential direction, and, on the second side, the fourth groove turning portion of each of the plurality of center lug grooves is bent or curved protruding out toward a fourth side opposite the third side in the tire circumferential direction,
a first connection end of each of the plurality of center lug grooves on the first side and a second connection end of each of the plurality of center lug grooves on the second side, with which each of the plurality of center lug grooves is connected to the pair of circumferential primary grooves, are each connected to an end of the second groove turning portion on the inner side in the tire width direction, and the second connection end of each of the plurality of center lug grooves is located further to the third side in the tire circumferential direction than the first connection end,
regarding a center position of each of the plurality of center lug grooves in a groove width direction, an inclination angle relative to the tire width direction of a first straight line that connects the first connection end and a protruding end of the third groove turning portion protruding out toward the third side in the tire circumferential direction, and an inclination angle relative to the tire width direction of a second straight line that connects the second connection end and a protruding end of the fourth groove turning portion protruding out toward the fourth side in the tire circumferential direction are larger than an inclination angle relative to the tire width direction of a third straight line that connects the first connection end and the second connection end of each of the plurality of center lug grooves.

3. The heavy duty pneumatic tire according to claim 2 , wherein, regarding the center position of each of the plurality of center lug grooves in the groove width direction, a portion of each of the center lug grooves between the protruding end of the third groove turning portion protruding out toward the third side in the tire circumferential direction and the first connection end is on the first straight line or on the third side with respect to the first straight line, and a portion of each of the plurality of center lug grooves between the protruding end of the fourth groove turning portion protruding out toward the fourth side in the tire circumferential direction and the second connection end is on the second straight line or on the fourth side with respect to the second straight line.

4. The heavy duty pneumatic tire according to claim 1 , wherein, for the inclination angle θ 4 and the inclination angle θ 1 , |θ 1 -θ 4 | is from 10 to 25 degrees.

5. The heavy duty pneumatic tire according to claim 1 , wherein each of the pair of circumferential primary grooves is provided with a raised bottom portion at which the groove becomes partially shallower.

6. The heavy duty pneumatic tire according to claim 5 , wherein, for a shallowest groove depth D 2 on the raised bottom portion and a tread width T of the tread portion in the tire width direction, a ratio D 2 /T is less than 0.05.

7. The heavy duty pneumatic tire according to claim 1 , wherein the tread portion includes a tread rubber including a tread surface on which the tread pattern is formed, and
for a thickness G 1 of the tread rubber on the tire equator line and a thickness

Assignees

• Yokohama Rubber Co Ltd

Inventors

• Hamanaka Hideki
• KAKUTA Shoei
• Yamaguchi Yukihito
• Tauchi Risa
• Sato Toshiyuki

Classifications

• B60C11/13 Primary

  characterised by the groove cross-section, e.g. for buttressing or preventing stone-trapping · CPC title

• B60C2011/0353

  characterised by width · CPC title

• B60C2011/0372

  with particular inclination angles · CPC title

• B60C2011/0348

  Narrow grooves, i.e. having a width of less than 4 mm · CPC title

• B60C2011/0355

  characterised by depth · CPC title