Tire having V-shaped kerfs

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11059330-B2
Application number	US-201816195375-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 19, 2018
Priority date	Mar 23, 2018
Publication date	Jul 13, 2021
Grant date	Jul 13, 2021

Abstract

A tire having includes a V-shaped kerf to increase the directionality of running of the tire and having a drainage section at the lower side of the kerf to enhance (e.g., improve) the water drainage performance. The tire having V-shaped kerfs includes a kerf formed on a block and allowing water introduced thereinto to be discharged to a groove, and a drainage section connected to the groove to discharge the water to the groove, the drainage section being a space defined in the longitudinal direction of the kerf.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A tire comprising:
a block and a groove formed on a tread;
a kerf formed on the block being configured to allow water introduced thereinto to be discharged to the groove; and
a drainage section connected to the groove to discharge the water to the groove, the drainage section being a space defined in a longitudinal direction of the kerf,
wherein the kerf has a V-shape bent about a center axis of the kerf that is perpendicular to a circumferential direction of the tire and passes through the center of the kerf, and
wherein the drainage section has the same V-shape bent as the kerf and has a shape in which its cross-sectional area gradually increases from the center of the kerf toward the groove by keeping a width of the drainage section constant and linearly increasing a height of the drainage section from the center of the kerf toward the groove.

2. The tire according to claim 1 , wherein the kerf is bent at a bending angle from 120 degrees or more to less than 180 degrees for the V-shape.

3. The tire according to claim 1 , wherein the cross-sectional area of the drainage section through which the center axis of the kerf passes rang from ¼ to ⅔ of a cross-sectional area of a drain for discharge of the water therefrom.

4. The tire according to claim 1 , wherein the drainage section is formed between a lower end of the kerf and a half point of a depth of the kerf.

5. The tire according to claim 1 , wherein the kerf includes an upper portion located above the drainage section, and having a width of 0.3 mm or more.

6. The tire according to claim 1 , wherein the drainage section has a width ranging from ⅕ to ½ of a width of the groove.

7. The tire according to claim 6 , wherein the width of the drainage section is 0.6 mm or more.

8. The tire according to claim 1 , wherein the tread comprises: 3D printed layers.

Assignees

• Hankook Tire Co Ltd

Inventors

• Byeon Jae Surb
• Koog Ha Eun

Classifications

• B60C11/1281

  different within the same sipe, i.e. enlarged width portion at sipe bottom or along its length · CPC title

• B60C2011/1213

  sinusoidal or zigzag at the tread surface · CPC title

• B60C11/1204 Primary

  with special shape of the sipe · CPC title

• B33Y80/00

  Products made by additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B60C11/1236

  with special arrangements in the tread pattern · CPC title