Adapter for a wheeled assembly and a wheeled assembly comprising same

Abstract

An adapter for a rolling assembly having an axis of rotation (YY′), the rolling assembly comprising a tyre having two beads, and a rim having two rim bead seats, for each bead, provides the connection between the bead and the rim, the said adapter comprising an axially inner end connected to the rim, an axially outer end comprising an outer reinforcing element and intended to come into contact, via a substantially radial axially inner face, or bearing face, with a bead, a body connecting the axially outer end to the axially inner end so as to form a single piece, comprising at least one main reinforcement providing the connection between the outer reinforcing element and the inner reinforcing element, and comprising a substantially axial adapter seat intended to come into contact with a bead. The outer reinforcing element is completely axially on the outside of the bearing face, and the outer reinforcing element is a substantially annular structure, referred to as a bead wire, of polygonal section, comprising an individual metal wire of diameter D1, the said wire being coated in an elastomer composition and wound contiguously around a support at least three times in an axial direction and at least twice in a radial direction.

Claims

1. An adapter for a rolling assembly having an axis of rotation and comprising a tire having two beads and a rim having two rim bead seats, the adapter providing, for each bead, the connection between a bead and a rim, and the adapter having: an axially inner end comprising an inner reinforcing element connected to the rim; an axially outer end comprising an outer reinforcing element and intended to come into contact, via a substantially radially extending axially inner face with the bead, the substantially radially extending axially inner face being a bearing face; and a body connecting the axially outer end to the axially inner end, comprising at least one main reinforcement providing the connection between the outer reinforcing element and the inner reinforcing element, and comprising a substantially axial adapter seat intended to come into contact with the bead, wherein the outer reinforcing element is completely axially on the outside of the bearing face and completely axially on the outside of a rim flange, and wherein the outer reinforcing element is a substantially annular structure of substantially polygonal section, comprising an individual metal wire of diameter D1, the individual metal wire being coated in an elastomer composition and wound contiguously at least three times in an axial direction and at least twice in a radial direction.

2. The adapter according to claim 1, wherein the axially inner end comprising the inner reinforcing element is intended to be mounted on a rim bead seat.

3. The adapter according to claim 1, wherein the elastomer composition coating the individual metal wire has a mean thickness between 0.05 mm and 0.3 mm.

4. The adapter according to claim 1, wherein the diameter D1 of the individual metal wire is between 0.5 mm and 5 mm.

5. The adapter according to claim 1, wherein the individual metal wire is wound between 3 and 10 times in the axial direction.

6. The adapter according to claim 1, wherein the individual metal wire is wound between 2 and 9 times in the radial direction.

7. A rolling assembly comprising the adapter according to claim 1.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The invention is described with reference to the following FIGS. 1 to 6, which are schematic and not necessarily drawn to scale:

(2) FIG. 1: a radial section of a non-mounted adapter, according to a first alternative form of the invention,

(3) FIG. 2: a radial section of a non-mounted adapter, according to a second alternative form of the invention,

(4) FIG. 3: a radial section of a non-mounted adapter, according to a third alternative form of the invention,

(5) FIG. 4: a radial section of a non-mounted adapter, according to a fourth alternative form of the invention,

(6) FIG. 5: a radial section of a non-mounted adapter, according to a fifth alternative form of the invention,

(7) FIG. 6: a radial section of a rolling assembly comprising two adapters.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(8) FIG. 1 depicts an adapter, not mounted on a rim, according to a first alternative form of the invention. This adapter comprises an axially outer end 9 comprising an outer reinforcing element 15, an axially inner end 10 comprising an inner reinforcing element 16, and a body 11 comprising a main reinforcement 17. The main reinforcement 17 is made up of a single reinforcing layer which is wound respectively around the inner reinforcing element 16 of the axially inner end 10 and around the outer reinforcing element 15 of the axially outer end 9. In the body 11, the main and return portions of the said reinforcing layer thus constitute a substantially radial stack of at least two reinforcing layers. The main reinforcement 17 is enveloped in a layer of elastomeric material 20. The body 11 further comprises an adapter seat 18 which is intended to come into contact with a tyre bead. The body 11 has an axial width L, measured between the axially inner face 21 of the axially outer end 9 and the axially outer face 26 of the axially inner end 10.

(9) In FIG. 1, the outer reinforcing element 15 is an annular structure, referred to as a bead wire, made up of a construction of type (3+4+5+4+3). Each numeral indicates the number of turns of wire in a layer. The first layer N1 is arranged on the radially innermost part. The layers N2 to N5 are situated on the layers that are progressively radially further out. Thus, in this example, the layer N1 comprises 3 turns of wire, the layer N2 4 turns, the layer N3 5 turns, the layer N4 4 turns and the layer N5 3 turns. The first layer of wire is wound around a substantially circular support.

(10) The wire used is a steel wire of diameter 2.15 mm, completely coated in a substantially uniform layer of elastomer composition measuring approximately 0.14 mm.

(11) FIG. 2 differs from FIG. 1 in that it has a different construction of wire winding. In this figure, 6 successive layers of wire are arranged in the radial direction. The first layer N1 comprises 4 turns of wire, the layer N2 5 turns of wire, the layer N3 4 turns of wire, the layer N4 5 turns of wire, the layer N5 4 turns of wire and the layer N6 3 turns of wire.

(12) The wire used is a steel wire of diameter 2.00 mm, completely coated in a substantially uniform layer of elastomer composition measuring approximately 0.14 mm.

(13) FIG. 3 differs from FIGS. 1 and 2 in that the axially inner end 10 is held against the rim bead seat 8 by a simple catching of known type when the tyre is placed under pressure.

(14) FIG. 4 depicts an attachment of the adapter by bonding the axially inner end 10 to the rim bead seat 8.

(15) FIG. 5 depicts an attachment of the adapter by crimping the inner end 10 into the rim bead seat 8.

(16) FIG. 6 shows a radial section, in a plane YZ, of a rolling assembly comprising a tyre P, a rim J, and, for each bead B, an adapter A providing the connection between the bead B and the rim J. The tyre P comprises a tread (unreferenced) extended radially towards the inside by two sidewalls 1, themselves extended radially towards the inside by two beads B. Within each bead B, the carcass reinforcement 2 is turned up around a circumferential reinforcing element or bead wire 3 to form a turnup 4 separated from the carcass reinforcement 2 by a filling element 5. The rim J comprises, in a middle portion, a mounting well 6, intended to make it easier to mount the beads B of the tyre P and, at its axial ends, two rim bead seats 8, each one comprising a substantially radial portion or rim flange 7a and a substantially axial portion or rim seat 7b. The adapter A comprises an axially inner end 10 comprising an inner reinforcing element 16 and intended to be mounted on a rim bead seat 8, an axially outer end 9 comprising an outer reinforcing element 15 and intended to come into contact via a substantially radial axially inner face, or bearing face 21, with a bead B, and finally a body 11, connecting the axially outer end 9 to the axially inner end 10 so as to form a single piece, comprising at least one main reinforcement 17 providing the connection between the outer reinforcing element 15 and the inner reinforcing element 16, and comprising a substantially axial adapter seat 18 intended to come into contact with a bead B.

EXAMPLE 1: COMPRESSION TEST

(17) In this example, the adapter is mounted between a tyre of size 245/40 R 18 and a rim of size 6B17. The inner end of the adapter has a dimension of 17″ and the outer end of 18″.

(18) Table I below collates results of proof pressure measurements for the one same size of tyre mounted on adapters that differ in terms of the number and diameter of wire(s) making up the outer reinforcer.

(19) Experience shows that the tyre inflation pressure places the outer reinforcer under compression hoop stress with reference to the deformation experienced by the reinforcers tested.

(20) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE I Adapter Proof pressure (bar) Adapter 1 - 19 turns of wire 1.7 mm in Higher than 12 diameter coated in a 0.14 mm elastomer sheath Adapter 2 - 19 turns of wire 2 mm in Higher than 17 diameter coated in a 0.14 mm elastomer sheath Adapter 3 - 19 turns of wire 2.15 mm in Higher than 22 diameter coated in a 0.14 mm elastomer sheath Adapter 4 - 25 turns of wire 2 mm in Higher than 23 diameter coated in a 0.14 mm elastomer sheath

(21) From this table, it may be seen that increasing the diameter of the wire, and, therefore, its individual cross section, makes it possible effectively to increase the proof pressure (adapters 2 and 4—increase of 15%) by comparison with increasing the number of wires (adapters 2 and 4—increase of 32%) by comparison with increases in the bulk or mass of the outer reinforcer which correspond respectively to 15% (adapter 3) and 32% (adapter 4).