Tire Life Extension Methods

Motorcycle tire with tread design to reduce wear step formation. The tire has a curved tread profile. The land ratio, or width-to-height ratio, of each zone between the tread edges and ground contacting surface is specified. This prevents excessive wear step formation at the edges of the tread by optimizing the wear distribution. The curved tread shape and controlled land ratios suppress the step wear that can occur in the center of the tread due to its shape.

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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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Automatically determining tire wear in real-time during vehicle operation without visual inspection or manual measurement. The method involves using sensors to continuously monitor tire parameters like rolling radius and stiffness. A machine learning model normalizes the effects of these parameters on rolling radius and stiffness. Changes in normalized rolling radius and stiffness over time indicate tire wear. The model can determine average wear and irregular wear patterns.

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Tire tread for heavy construction vehicles that improves grip, especially on muddy terrain, while also increasing wear resistance. The tread has blocks with concave contact faces and a distribution of radial heights between the inner and outer portions that allows better penetration and anchoring. The concave contact faces have at least three pairs of sides forming angles greater than 180 degrees. This shape provides better grip and traction compared to convex contact faces. The radial height of the outer penetration portion is 0.1-0.6 of the total block height.

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Pneumatic tire with improved grip and durability at high speeds. The tire has a tread with at least two rubber compounds with different thermal conductivities in the ground contacting surface. This allows efficient heat dissipation during high-speed running to prevent excessive heat buildup. The tire also has specific dimensions and groove geometry to further enhance grip and durability.

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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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A compound called 3,14,14-trimethyl-2,3,4,4a,5,12,14,14a-octahydroquinolino[2,3-b]acridin-7 (1H)-one that can be used as an aging stabilizer in rubber products like tires. The compound has a lower hazard potential compared to traditional aging stabilizers like p-phenylenediamines. It can be used in rubber mixtures at low amounts to provide sufficient aging protection without blooming. The compound can be synthesized by reacting citronellal, acetone, and aniline derivatives.

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Rubber composition for pneumatic tires with improved durability without sacrificing elongation. The composition contains a diene-based rubber, carbon black, and phosphoric acid-modified cellulose nanofiber. Adding the modified cellulose nanofiber to the rubber composition enhances rubber strength without reducing elongation compared to using just carbon black. This provides better tire durability without compromising tire flexibility.

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Rubber composition for pneumatic tires that improves durability without sacrificing elongation. The composition contains a diene-based rubber, modified diene-based rubber, carbon black, and phosphoric acid-modified cellulose nanofiber. The modified diene-based rubber improves rubber strength, while the nanofiber further enhances strength. The composition allows reducing filler like silica to improve elongation. The composition can be used in vulcanized rubber parts of tires.

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Pneumatic vehicle tire with improved cooling and stone trapping resistance in the shoulder region. The tire has sidewall and tread with a shoulder-side profile rib containing depressions. The depression openings are elongated rectangular or trapezoidal, with angled end flanks and a base that transitions from inner base to outer base to a convex middle base. The depression length is 30-50% of the rib width. This shape provides better cooling by maximizing surface area and stone trapping resistance by preventing stone retention. The zigzag groove shape and depression placement beside bend inner sides further improves rigidity and cooling.

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Oil-extended conjugated diene polymer for tire rubber with improved low-temperature properties and bloom resistance compared to conventional oil-extended polymers. The polymer is made by extending a conjugated diene polymer with an oil containing specific properties. The oil has a UV/RI detection area ratio of 10 or less and an extrapolated initial melting temperature of 23°C or less. This oil-extended polymer forms cross-linked rubber with enhanced low-temperature performance and reduced bloom when used in tire compounds.

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A tire assembly using shape memory alloys (SMAs) combined with polymers to create structures with combined properties of elasticity and strength. The tire assembly replaces the inner tube in a pneumatic tire with a toroidal SMA structure encapsulated in polymer. The SMA structure absorbs load like a spring and prevents punctures. The polymer encloses and bonds the SMA to the tread.

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Method of tire maintenance using historical tire pressure data to improve tire management for aircraft. The method involves analyzing historical tire pressure measurements with time stamps to determine maintenance actions like inflation events, minimum pressures, and replacement triggers. By analyzing the pressure trends, it can identify when tires need inflation versus when they're losing pressure. This allows proactive maintenance instead of waiting for scheduled checks.

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Tire design with multiple body plies and stabilizer ply inserts to improve durability and reduce weight compared to conventional tire construction. The tire has three body plies wrapping around the beads with decreasing widths. The innermost ply has the widest turn-up, the middle ply has a narrower turn-up inside the wider one, and the outermost ply has a wider turn-up inside the narrower one. Stabilizer inserts are placed between the body plies and beads to prevent overlaps. This configuration provides stability and prevents ply overlap without needing excessively wide outer plies. The inserts also reduce weight compared to overlapping plies.

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Upgrading micronized rubber powder (MRP) for large-scale reuse in tires by chemically activating the powder to improve performance. The activation involves treating the powder with silane during grinding to prevent sticking and using silica as a dusting agent. This functionalizes the powder surface to enhance vulcanization and dispersion in rubber compounds. The activation step involves contacting the powder with silane, silica, peroxides, or other activators. This allows using lower amounts of MRP in tire formulations compared to unactivated powder, which improves properties like tear strength, abrasion resistance, and dynamic performance.

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Tow dolly cross rail assembly with positive camber that reduces tire wear and improves stability when towing vehicles. The cross rail has an arched configuration with an upward-sloping center bar. This creates positive camber on the dolly tires at the outer ends of the bars. It prevents the tires from leaning inward when loaded, keeping them vertical. The arched shape helps prevent sagging and dynamic loading issues compared to flat cross rails. The center bar slides and telescopes to adjust rail length for different vehicle sizes.

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Automated aircraft tire pressure monitoring system that reduces time and effort compared to manual checks. The system uses wireless tire sensors that can be installed on the wheels. The sensors have a power supply and a processing system. The processing system measures tire pressure and consumption of the power supply. It determines the status of the sensor based on power consumption and provides an indication when the sensor needs replacement before the end of the tire's life. This allows proactive replacement of sensors instead of waiting for manual checks.

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Sulfur-modified chloroprene rubber with improved heat resistance and reduced compression set compared to conventional sulfur-modified chloroprene rubbers. The rubber has specific terminal functional groups, a thiazole and an imidazole, with a mass ratio of thiazole to imidazole functional groups between 0 and 6.00. This ratio and total content of 0.10-0.60% by mass of these functional groups improve scorch resistance, heat resistance, and compression set in vulcanized rubber compared to conventional rubbers.

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Predicting tire pressure of an aircraft tire to enable proactive maintenance and tire management. The method involves using historical tire pressure, brake temperature, and gas temperature data along with future aircraft operating conditions to predict tire pressure during future flight cycles. This allows determining if maintenance is needed, scheduling tire replacements, estimating tire lifespan, and planning inflations based on anticipated operating conditions.

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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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