Wet Road Grip for Tire Safety

Tyres for vehicles with improved grip, wear resistance, and low weight. The tyres contain a rubber matrix with functionalized carbon nanoparticles like graphene and carbon nanotubes. The functionalization improves dispersion of the carbon nanoparticles in the rubber. This provides better grip, structural and chemical properties, and abrasion resistance compared to unfunctionalized carbon nanoparticles. The functionalization involves treating the carbon nanoparticles with chemicals like nitric acid to modify their surface.

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Vehicle control system and method that accurately estimate tire slip limits and maintain tires in the elastic slip state for improved traction and stability. The system estimates tire stiffness and road friction based on vehicle dynamics like speed, acceleration, and torque. It then calculates the adhesion limit driving force for each tire. By controlling the drive source and brakes to keep tire forces below this limit, the tires operate at a constant slip angle. This prevents excessive slippage or locking that can lead to instability. The estimated tire properties also account for factors like load changes and attitude to improve accuracy.

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Pneumatic vehicle tires with improved wet grip and better transmission of tractive force as the tread wears. The tires have treads with profile ribs having sipes that extend parallel to each other. The depth of the main portion of each sipe is less than the depth of the edge portion that leads into the cavity between the rib and groove. This configuration allows good wet grip as the depth of the main sipe portion reduces with wear, while still maintaining stiffness from the wider cavity portion.

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Rubber composition for tires with improved wet grip and ice grip performance. The composition contains a specific diene rubber with a weight average molecular weight of 5,000 to 50,000 and a unique structure. The rubber has a high mol % of 1,2-bonds in the butadiene units, but also contains specific structural units represented by the formula (1). This composition, when crosslinked, provides tires with enhanced wet grip and ice grip properties compared to traditional rubber compounds.

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Pneumatic tire design that improves both wet and dry steering stability without compromising one over the other. The tire has outer side profiles with multiple curved lines of different shapes between the tire edges. This reduces the difference in ground contact pressure between the edges and center. This balances wet steering benefit from better drainage with dry steering by distributing force more evenly. The inner side profile can have 1 or more curved lines.

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Polydiene rubbers with improved properties for tire applications, made by polymerizing diene monomers with functionalized comonomers containing alkoxy silyl groups. The functionalized comonomers have repeating units derived from the functionalizing comonomer. The functionalized rubber polymers have better interactions with fillers and improved tire properties compared to non-functionalized diene polymers.

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Predicting road surface operating conditions like friction for improved vehicle control and safety. It uses a combination of shared vehicle fleet data and real-time sensor readings to generate personalized friction models for individual vehicles. The shared model is created by a remote server based on sensor data from many vehicles. Each vehicle then uses the shared model along with its own readings to predict upcoming friction. This provides more accurate friction estimates compared to just using real-time sensors. The shared model enables leveraging fleet-wide experience to improve friction prediction for individual vehicles.

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Rubber composition for tire treads that provides improved wet grip and rolling resistance compared to conventional rubber compositions. The composition contains specific ratios of styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (EPDM), silica, and zinc oxide. The composition also has a specific styrene content in the SBR, vinyl content in the SBR, and glass transition temperature (Tg) of the SBR. Cross-linking the composition improves wet grip and maintains rolling resistance compared to cross-linking conventional rubber compositions.

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Pneumatic tire with improved wet grip and noise reduction compared to conventional tires. The tire has a tread design with a specific pattern layout and feature sizes. The tread has an outer main circumferential groove extending around the tire circumference. The main groove has multiple circumferential main grooves spaced apart by circumferential land portions. The tread also has multiple lateral grooves extending between adjacent circumferential main grooves. The lateral grooves have multiple lateral land portions between them. The main grooves have a maximum depth greater than the lateral grooves. The lateral grooves have a maximum width greater than the circumferential main grooves. The circumferential main grooves have a maximum width greater than the lateral land portions. This tread layout with specific dimension relationships improves wet grip and steering stability while also reducing noise compared to conventional tires with different tread patterns.

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Anticipatory control for autonomous vehicles that provides a more reliable and realistic prediction model by considering real-time road conditions. The method involves determining anticipatory constraints for each step of a planned path using road data like friction, grade, and bank angle. These constraints are then used in a Model Predictive Control (MPC) to generate control actions. This updated MPC with real-time road data provides a more accurate and reliable prediction model compared to using just planned path and speed data.

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Vehicle management system for autonomous vehicles that can determine if a vehicle is experiencing excessive slip and take appropriate action. The system measures slip index values indicating slippiness at various locations as the vehicle travels. It calculates a slip map associating locations with statistical slip values. If a vehicle consistently has outlier slip values compared to the map, indicating potential issues, the system extracts that vehicle as a target for further analysis. It can then plan routes avoiding slip prone areas, reduce speeds on slippery sections, or prompt operators to manually control the vehicle. By identifying vehicles with excessive slip, it aims to prevent degradation and improve efficiency.

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Rubber composition for tire treads that provides improved wet performance while maintaining snow and wear characteristics. The composition contains specific amounts of polybutadiene, styrene-butadiene rubber, silica, organosilane coupling agent, processing oil, resins, and curing agents. The rubber formulation balances wet traction, snow traction, and wear resistance through the selected rubber components and curing package.

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Additive composition for improving properties of silica-filled rubber compounds in tires, such as fuel economy, traction, and wear resistance. The composition comprises a reaction product of fatty acid and polyamine. It is added to silica-filled rubber compounds, like tire treads, at low parts per hundred (phr) levels. The additive enhances silica dispersion and reduces payne effect, without affecting key rubber properties like viscosity, scorch, hardness, tensile strength, elongation, abrasion, and modulus. This enables improved tire performance, including lower rolling resistance, enhanced winter/dry traction, and better dry handling, without compromising other properties.

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Polysaccharide-elastomer masterbatch for making reinforced rubber compositions with reduced water content. The masterbatch is made by mixing a polysaccharide dispersion with an elastomer latex and then coagulating and drying the mixture. This avoids adding water during masterbatch production, allowing lower water content in the final rubber compound. The polysaccharide provides reinforcement and reduces rolling resistance compared to carbon black. The masterbatch can be used in applications like tires, belts, footwear, coatings, etc.

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A tire with a tread pattern that improves wet performance while reducing noise compared to conventional tires. The tread has sipes in the middle regions instead of lug grooves, but chamfered surfaces extend further circumferentially than widthways. This provides more edge contact for grip, longer chamfered edges for drainage, and shorter chamfered edges for noise reduction. The different length chamfered edges balance wet traction and noise suppression.

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Tire tread design that improves rolling resistance while maintaining wet grip and reducing maximum lateral force for vehicles like SUVs and vans. The tread has a center section with a different rubber composition compared to the shoulder sections. The center rubber has lower storage modulus at 1% strain and higher glass transition temperature compared to the shoulder rubber. This allows lower rolling resistance and improved wet grip without sacrificing maximum lateral force. The center rubber composition can contain a styrene/alpha-methylstyrene copolymer resin.

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Rubber composition for truck tires with improved rolling resistance and wet grip while maintaining wear resistance. The composition contains 70-95 phr of polyisoprene and 5-30 phr of a low Tg SBR functionalized for silica coupling. It also has 40-80 phr of predominantly silica filler. This combination provides a balance of wear, wet, and rolling resistance properties for reduced environmental impact and safety in truck tires.

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Rubber composition for tire treads that improves mechanical properties, wet and snow performance, cornering coefficient properties, and/or wear performance. The composition contains natural or synthetic rubber, a high surface area silica filler, and a specific polysulfide polymer. The polysulfide has a formula with a thioplast group connected to a polymer chain. The polysulfide amount is 1-20 phr. This composition provides balance of tire properties like stiffness, grip, and wear compared to traditional rubber compounds.

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Functionalizing polydiene polymers like styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) by modifying the backbone using silylating grafting agents. The grafting agents are synthesized by reacting siloxanes, compounds with a vinyl group and substituent, and a catalyst. The grafting agents are then used to hydrosilylate the polymer post-polymerization, incorporating multiple functional groups on the backbone. This improves properties like rolling resistance, wet traction, and filler interaction.

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Tire with improved drainage performance as tire wear progresses. The tire has multiple circumferential main grooves on the tread surface. The main grooves have a unique shape with a stepped profile. The stepped profile has a shallower section near the tread edge that transitions to a deeper section further inward. This design helps prevent water from accumulating in the shallower section as wear reduces the tread height. The deeper section provides adequate drainage even with reduced tread depth. This prevents hydroplaning and improves wet grip as the tire wears.

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