Variable width wheel assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10239348-B2
Application number	US-201514984818-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 30, 2015
Priority date	Jan 14, 2015
Publication date	Mar 26, 2019
Grant date	Mar 26, 2019

Abstract

Provided is a tire including rims, beads each mounted so as to surround each of the rims, a side wall that is connected to the beads, a sub-tread that is formed on top of the side wall and is formed of a material having elasticity so as to have a changing curvature, and plural tread blocks that are arranged on the sub-tread such that the distances between the tread blocks change in accordance with the change in the curvature of the sub-tread.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wheel assembly comprising:
a rim and a tire,
wherein the rim has a variable width that enables a change in the volume of the tire, and
wherein the tire comprises:
a bead mounted so as to surround the rim;
a side wall connected to the bead;
a sub-tread formed on top of the side wall and made of a material having elasticity so as to have a curvature adapted to change in accordance with the change in the internal pressure of the tire; and
plural tread blocks arranged on the sub-tread such that the distances between the tread blocks are adapted to change in accordance with the change in the curvature of the sub-tread, and wherein:
the tire has a first diameter in an on-road mode in which the sub-tread has a planar shape, and has a second diameter that is larger than the first diameter in an off-road mode in which the sub-tread has a round shape having the curvature,
the rim has a first width defining the on-road mode in which the distances between the plural tread blocks are minimized and a second width that is smaller than the first width and defines the off-road mode in which the distances between the plural tread blocks are maximized,
the plural tread blocks have a hexagonal prism shape and one tread block is surrounded by six adjacent tread blocks,
in the on-road mode, the one tread block is in contact with four tread blocks among the six adjacent tread blocks that surround the one tread block, and is separated at a predetermined distance from the other two tread blocks, and
in the off-road mode, the one tread block is separated at a predetermined distance from all of the six adjacent tread blocks that surround the one tread block.

2. The wheel assembly according to claim 1 , wherein:
the rim includes a first side and a second side disposed on respective sides of a cylinder that forms the rim, and
the wheel assembly further comprises a rim width-regulating apparatus that is disposed between the first side and the second side and is operated to regulate the width of the rim.

3. The wheel assembly according to claim 2 , wherein the rim width-regulating apparatus is composed of a mechanical apparatus including a spring.

4. The wheel assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the dimension of the second diameter is no more than 1.4 times the dimension of the first diameter.

5. The wheel assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the tire has an internal pressure of 1.5 to 2.8 Bar in the on-road mode, and has an internal pressure of 2.8 to 3.6 Bar in the off-road mode.

6. The wheel assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the sub-tread is formed from a composition having physical properties including a hardness of 80 to 90, a 300% modulus of 110 to 125 kgf/cm 2 , an elongation of 600% or more, and a tensile strength of 125 kgf/cm 2 or more.

Assignees

• Hankook Tire Co Ltd

Inventors

• Cha Yong Ho
• Kang Seung Koo
• Choi Yoon-Jin
• Song Choong-Kee

Classifications

• B60C11/0008

  characterised by the tread rubber · CPC title

• B60B21/02

  characterised by transverse section · CPC title

• B60C11/11

  in which the raised area of the pattern consists only of isolated elements, e.g. blocks (B60C11/12, B60C11/13 take precedence) · CPC title

• B60B25/00

  Rims built-up of several main parts {; Locking means for the rim parts}(tools for assembling divided rims B60B31/04) · CPC title

• B60C11/0306

  Patterns comprising block rows or discontinuous ribs · CPC title