Patent Application
20130340910
The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire and a method for manufacturing the pneumatic tire having a bead structure comprising axially inner and outer core pieces, and a radially inner end part of a carcass ply is held therebetween.
In recent years, to improve accuracy of tire forming, the following making process (hereinafter called “inner molding process”) as shown in
The inner molding process has difficulty terminating both end parts of the carcass ply around the bead core like in a traditional tire.
Therefore, the following Patent Document 1 shown in
However, in case of such a bead structure, each of the core pieces d1, d2 is axially thin. Therefore, at the time of a rim mounting, there arises a localized deformation when twisting the bead portion with a lever, and this becomes a plastic deformation; accordingly, this deformation will not return to its original shape after the rim mouthing.
Therefore, the present invention is based on employing the predetermined twisted structure of using plural of steel strands as substitute for a single wire as the bead wire. And the present invention aims to provide a pneumatic tire and a method for manufacturing the pneumatic tire while keeping corrosion resistance and air-leak resistance and providing in the bead wire with an appropriate flexibility so as to prevent a core deformation at the time of rim mounting.
To solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention as set forth in claim 1 is a pneumatic tire comprising a carcass comprising a carcass ply extending from a tread portion through a sidewall portion to a bead core of a bead portion. The bead core comprises axially inner and outer core pieces, and a radially inner end part of the carcass ply is held between the axially inner and outer core pieces without being turned-up around the bead core. Each of the inner and outer bead pieces are composed of a spiral-wound body in which a bead wire is wound from the radially-inwardly to the height of over the radially outer end of a rim flange in an overlapping manner in the shape of spiral. The bead wire comprises a core part made of not less than two core strands twisted together and a sheath part made of not less than three sheath strands twisted together around the core part, the diameter of the core strands is the same as the diameter of the sheath strands, and the core strands and/or sheath strands include an embossed strand that is embossed in a wave shape before twisting. The twisting direction and the twisting pitch Pc of the core strands are the same as a twisting direction and twisting pitch Ps of the sheath strands.
The invention as set forth in claim 3 is a method for manufacturing a pneumatic tire comprising a carcass comprising a carcass ply extending from a tread portion through a sidewall portion to a bead core of a bead portion. By use of rigid inner mold provided on an outer surface with the tire forming surface forming a cavity surface of the pneumatic tire, the method comprises a green tire forming process to form a raw cover by adhering sequentially unvulcanized tire component members including the bead core and the carcass ply on the tire forming surface. The green tire forming process comprises: a first core pieces process to form an axially inner core piece on the tire forming surface by spirally winding and adhering a rubber lining bead wire covered with unvulcanized rubber from the radially inward to radially outward in an overlapping manner in the shape of spiral, a carcass forming process to have a step of adhering the radially inner end part of the carcass ply on the axially outside of the axially inner core piece, and a second core pieces process to form an axially outer core piece on the axially outside of the radially inner end part of the carcass ply by spirally winding and adhering the rubber lining bead wire from the radially inward to radially outward in an overlapping manner in the shape of spiral. The bead wire comprises a core part made of not less than two core strands twisted together and a sheath part made of not less than three sheath strands twisted together around the core part. The core strands and/or sheath strands include an embossed strand that is embossed in a wave shape before twisting. The twisting direction and twisting pitch Pc of the core strand are the same as the twisting direction and twisting pitch Ps of the sheath strands.
Each of the inventions as set forth in claim 2 and 4; the bead wire comprises the sheath strands wound around the core part after twisting the core strands.
As above stated, in the bead structure of the present invention, the radially inner end part of the carcass ply is held between the axially inner and outer core pieces. Each of the core pieces is made of a spiral-wound body which is made of a bead wire spirally wound and overlapped to the height of over a radially outer end of a rim flange. Therefore, this improves the area of contact of core pieces with the carcass ply and exerts the securing force sufficiently, and prevents a blowout of the carcass ply.
For the bead wire, a twisted structure is employed. The twisted structure comprises a core part made by twisting the core strands and a sheath part made by winding the sheath strands around the core part. The twisting direction and a twisting pitch Pc of the core strands are the same as a twisting direction and a twisting pitch Ps of the above-mentioned sheath strands. This provides the appropriate flexibility to the bead wire so as to prevent a core deformation at the time of rim mounting.
Furthermore, the core strands and the sheath strands have the same twisting direction and the twisting pitch one another. The strand can be twisted the most compatibly as well as a so-called bundle twisted structure where plural of strands are tied together and twisted. This helps to form less spaces in the wire, to keep a deformation in the same direction as a variation of the cross-sectional shape of the wire low, to improve the connecting power with the rim, and to keep the steering stability. when an ordinal layer twisted structure that at least one of the twisting direction and twisting pitch are differs, there is a space where the sheath strand may drop in the core part, the connecting power with the rim decreases, and this impacts negatively on steering stability.
In the bundle twisted structure, locations of the strand on the wire change at random, and the cross-sectional shape is unequal in the circumferential direction. Therefore, in the circumferential direction, this structure is liable to have differing strengths of the connecting pressure with the rim. This weak connecting pressure area causes a drop of the air-leak resistance such that the fill up air is easier to leak. However, the above-mentioned twisted structure has a cross-sectional shape stabile in the circumferential direction without changing the locations of the strand, and this helps to keep the air-leak resistance high.
Moreover, the above-mentioned bead wire comprising an embossed strand can improve rubber penetrating into the wire, can prevent corrosion, and can improve the durability of the bead wire, furthermore the durability of the tire. Meanwhile, the bundle twisted structure with an embossed strand improves the rubber penetrating to some extent, but the locations of the strand changes randomly. The embossed strand forms interspaces unstably, thereby decreasing the rubber penetrating. However, in the above-mentioned twisted structure, the locations of the strand do not change, and the interspaces are formed stably. The twisted structure has more enhancing effects in rubber penetrating than the bundle twisted structure.
The bundle twisted structure has a strong point of keeping the steering stability while improving the connecting power with the rim and a weak point of having less air-leak resistance and rubber penetrating. The bead wire having the twisted structure can exert the strong point and redeems the weak point of the bundle twisted structure. In the pneumatic tire formed in the inner molding process, this suppresses the bead deformation at the time of rim mounting without deteriorations of the blowout of the carcass ply, the connecting power with rim, the air-leak resistance and the rubber penetrating.
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be particularly described.
As shown in
The belt layer 7 comprises at not less than one, two belt plies 7A, 7B in the present embodiment, having belt cords inclined at an angle of 10 to 35 degrees with respect to the tire circumferential direction. In the belt layer 7, the belt cords intersect one another between the ply so as to improve the belt rigidity and reinforce strongly a substantially overall width of the tread portion 2 with hoop effect. For the belt cord, a steel cord is employed in this embodiment, but high modulus organic fiber cord such as polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), aromatic polyamide and the like can be employed as appropriate.
A band layer 9 may be provided on the radial direction outside. The band layer 9 has organic fiber band cords such as nylon and the like wound spirally at an angle of not more than 5 degrees with respect to the circumferential direction to improve the high-speed durability and the like. For this band layer 9, a pair of edge band ply covering only the axially outer end of the above-mentioned belt layer 7 and a full band ply covering the substantially-overall width of the belt layer 7 can be arbitrarily employed; and in the present embodiment, employed is a single full band ply.
The carcass 6 comprises not less than one carcass ply 6A having organic fiber carcass cords arranged in radial arrangement, one carcass ply 6A is applied in this embodiment. This carcass ply 6A forms a toroidal shape extending between the bead portions 4, 4. The both radially end parts 6AE of the carcass ply 6A terminates in the bead core 5 without being turned-up around the bead core 5. In concrete terms, the bead core 5 is made of axially inner and outer core pieces 5i, 5o, and each of the radially end parts 6AE of the carcass ply 6A is held between these axially inner and outer core pieces 5i, 5o.
Each of the axially inner and outer core pieces 5i, 5o is, as shown in
To prevent a core break at the time of tire deformation, this embodiment limits the winding number No of the bead wire 5a in the axially outer core piece 5o to have less than the winding number Ni of the axially inner core piece 5i. The bead portion 4 comprises the inner and outer bead apex rubber 8i, 8o extending from the axially inner and outer core pieces 5i, 5o toward respective radially outward tapered shape so as to reinforce a portion between the bead portion 4 and the sidewall portion 3. And, a symbol 10 in the drawings means a chafer rubber for preventing rim shifting.
The bead wire 5a is formed by twisting plural of steel strands 11 having the same diameter to prevent the core deformation at the time of rim mounting. In concrete terms, the bead wire 5a comprises a core part 12 made of not less than two core strands 11c twisted together, and a sheath part 13 made of not less than three sheath strands 11s twisted together around the core part 12 as shown in
In this twisted structure of the present embodiment, since the twisting direction and the twisting pitch Pc of the core strands 11c are the same as the twisting direction and the twisting pitch Ps of the sheath strands 11s, plural of strands 11 are arranged the most compactly and are twisted in the retaining of this arrangement. That is to say, the arrangement of the strands 11 in the wire section is the same on arbitrary longitudinal positions of the bead wire 5a, and the same arrangement is maintained around the wire center.
In case of the bundle twisted structure, the strands locate most compactly, but the position of the strands in the wire changes randomly thereby varying the arrangement of the strands in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, its cross sectional shape is non-uniform in the circumferential direction and it is liable to lack in uniformity of the connecting pressure with the rim in the circumferential direction. It causes a decrease of the air-leak resistance such as a fill up air leaking from the weak point of connecting pressure. However in the twisted structure of the present embodiment, the strand positions do not change, and the cross sectional shape is stable in the circumferential direction. Therefore, the air-leak resistance can be kept high.
In the case of the ordinarily layer twisted structure where at least one of the twisting direction and twisting pitch differs, the core part and the sheath part are distributed. Therefore, there is a space where the sheath strand drops into the core part, and a deformation in the deforming direction of the cross sectional shape of the wire is liable to occur. This negatively affects on the steering stability such as a decrease of the connecting power with the rim. However, the twisted structure of the present embodiment has a compact strand arrangement and forms the above-mentioned space as little as the bundle twisted structure; therefore, it increases the connecting power with the rim and can keep the steering stability.
The twisted structure of the present embodiment has the compact strand arrangement; therefore, the twisted structure has less rubber penetrating into the wire. However, in the present embodiment, as shown in
In this way, the above-mentioned bead wire 5a has the advantages of the bundle twisted structure of improving the connecting power with the rim so as to keep the steering stability, and can cover disadvantages of the bundle twisted structure such as less air-leak resistance and less rubber penetrating. In the pneumatic tire made with an inner molding, the bead deformation at the time of rim mounting can be reduced without deterioration of the blowout of carcass ply, connecting power with rim, air-leak resistance nor rubber penetrating.
A dimension K of embossing by the above-mentioned embossed strand 14 (shown in
A diameter of the strand 11 is not particularly limited, but from the aspect of the required strength of the bead wire, it is preferably in a range of from 0.175 to 0.45 mm for a passenger car tire. The number of the core strand 11c and the number of the sheath strand 11s are also not particularly limited, from the aspect of the required strength of the bead wire, the number of the core strand 11c is preferably in a range of from 2 to 5 for a passenger car tire, the number of the sheath strand 11s is preferably larger than the number of the core strand 11c and in a range of from 3 to 12.
As shown conceptually in
The following is a method for manufacturing the above-mentioned pneumatic tire 1. As shown roughly in
a green tire forming process S1 to form a raw cover 1N by adhering sequentially unvulcanized tire component members on a tire forming surface 30s; and
a vulcanizing provide to vulcanize the raw cover 1N with the rigid inner mold 30 in a vulcanizing mold (not shown)
As shown in
(1) a first core pieces process S1 to form an axially inner core piece 5i on the tire forming surface by spirally winding and adhering a rubber lining bead wire 5a covered with unvulcanized rubber from the radially inward to radially outward in an overlapping manner in the shape of spiral,
(2) a carcass forming process S1b to have a step S1b1 of adhering the radially inner end part 6AE of the carcass ply 6A on the axially outside of the axially inner core piece 5i, and
(3) a second core pieces process S1c to form an axially outer core piece 5o on the axially outside of the radially inner end part 6AE of the carcass ply 6A by spirally winding and adhering the rubber lining bead wire 5a from the radially inward to radially outward in an overlapping manner in the shape of spiral.
The bead wire 5a is formed with the above-mentioned twisted structure. As described above, the core strands 11c has the same twisting direction and twisting pitch Pc as the twisting direction and twisting pitch Ps of the sheath strands 11s.
Although the especially preferred embodiments of the invention have been described in detail, needless to say, the invention is not limited to the above-mentioned concrete embodiments shown in drawings, and various modifications can be made.
To ascertain the efficacy of the present invention, a pneumatic tire (195/65R15) was made with an inner molding process by use of a bead wire having a structure shown in
Twisted structures shown in Table 1 are as follows:
1×m structure: Bundle twisted structure with m numbers of the strand;
m+n structure: Layer twisted structure with th m numbers of the core strand and n numbers of sheath strand; and
m/n structure: Twisted structure of the present embodiment with the m numbers of the core strand and the n numbers of the sheath strands which have the same in twisting direction and twisting pitch.
Each test tire had substantially the same specification except for the specification of the bead wire shown in Table 1. Primary common specifications were as follows:
Number of carcass plies: 1
Material of carcass cord: polyester
Angle of carcass cord: 88 degrees (with respect to tire equator)
Number of belt plies: 2
Material of belt cord: steel
Angle of belt cord: +28 degrees, −28 degrees (with respect to tire equator)
Winding number Ni of bead wires in axially inner core piece: 8
Winding number No of bead wires in axially outer core piece: 11
Rubber hardness of bead apex rubber: 80 (durometer A hardness)
Based on the tension test of JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards) G3510 of “Testing methods for steel tire cords”, maximum tension load of cord breaking was measured. clamping distance was 700 mm, and tension rate was 50 mm/min.
By use of Taber V-5 Stiffness Tester, Type 150-D, manufactured by TABER (USA), a cord extending 5 cm from a fixed end is exerted pressure at its tip. Bending rigidity was defined as a value of bending moment (gf·cm) at the time that the tip aperture angle θ (theta) was at 15 degrees.
Visually evaluating a coming-off of the strand in a time of rubber lining to the cord.
visually checking whether the bead core never recovered from a deformation at the portion the most twisted by a lever after dismounting a tire from a rim by use of a commercially available tire changer.
The tire was mounted on a rim (15×6 JJ) and inflated to an internal pressure of 200 kPa, and remained untouched for 30 days. Evaluation was defined as a decreasing rate of the internal pressure using indices with the traditional tire being 100. The larger the numeric value was, the more favorable the air-leak resistance was.
The tire was remained untouched for 21 days in a moist heat oven at a temperature of 70 degrees C. and 95% relative humidity and conducted an endurance test with a drum test run machine. The endurance test was conducted under a condition of the tire internal pressure of 190 kPa, load of 6.96 kN, speed of 80 km/H, running for 375 hours in a row. After the run, the tire was taken down and checked rust occurred in the bead wire. Evaluation was displayed on a scale of one to five. The larger the numeric value was, the more favorable the corrosion resistance was.
Each test tire was mounted on a rim (15×6 JJ) under an internal pressure (200 kPa) for all wheels of a vehicle (2000 cc). straight running performance, cornering stability, braking behavior and the like were tested by a professional driver when the vehicle ran on an asphalted road surface of a tire test course in dry condition. Evaluation was performed in the driver's feeling test and defined using indices with a traditional tire being 100. The larger the numeric values, the more favorable the steering stability was.
From the result shown in Table, the cord of the embodiment was confirmed that the bead deformation at the time of mounting on the rim could be reduced without reductions of the connecting power with the rim, air-leak resistance, nor rubber penetrating.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-086076 | Apr 2011 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2012/051998 | 1/30/2012 | WO | 00 | 9/6/2013 |
