Adapter For Rolling Assembly And Rolling Assembly Comprising Same

Abstract

Adapter for a tire having two beads (B) and a rim (J) placed between one of the beads and the rim, the rim having two rim seats (7). The adapter has an axially inner end (10) mounted on rim seat (7) and comprises inner reinforcer element (16). Axially outer end (9) is mounted on rim seat (7), and comprises outer reinforcer element (15), body (11) that connects outer end (9) to inner end (10) so as to form a single piece. A substantially cylindrical adapter seat receives one of the beads (B). Adapter bearing face (21) is substantially contained in a plane perpendicular to the axis. Outer reinforcer element (15) is wholly positioned axially on the outside of bearing face (21). Body (11) comprises at least one isotropic material (23, 24) selected from polyurethane, nylon, polyethylene terephthalate, polybutadiene terephthalate, silicones.

Claims

1. An adapter for a rolling assembly having an axis of rotation and comprising: a tire having two beads, a rim, the adapter providing the connection between one of the beads and the rim, the rim having two rim seats, wherein the adapter comprises: an axially inner end adapted to be mounted on a rim seat and comprises an inner reinforcing element; an axially outer end that comprises an outer reinforcing element; a body that connects said axially outer end to said axially inner end so as to form a single piece and comprises at least one main reinforcement that provides the connection between said outer reinforcing element and said inner reinforcing element; a substantially cylindrical adapter seat adapted to receive one of the beads, said seat being situated at the axially outer end of said body; and an adapter bearing face substantially contained in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation, said bearing face being situated on the axially inner face of the axially outer end, wherein the reinforcing element of the axially outer end is entirely situated axially outside said adapter bearing face without being connected to said adapter bearing face, and wherein the body comprises at least one isotropic material selected from polyurethane, nylon, polyethylene terephthalate, polybutadiene terephthalate, silicones.

2. The adapter according to claim 1, wherein the body comprises a first and a second isotropic material.

3. The adapter according to claim 2, wherein the first and second isotropic materials are of identical chemical natures.

4. The adapter according to claim 2, wherein the first and second isotropic materials are of different chemical natures.

5. The adapter according to claim 1, wherein the first and second materials exhibit a modulus at 10% strain (MA10) of between 25 MPa and 800 MPa independently of one another.

6. The adapter according to claim 1, wherein the first isotropic material envelops the inner and outer reinforcing elements.

7. The adapter according to claim 1, wherein the second isotropic material covers all or part of the first isotropic material.

8. The adapter according to claim 1, wherein when two isotropic materials are present, the first has a modulus at 10% strain (MA10) of between 250 MPa and 800 MPa, and the second material exhibits a modulus at 10% strain (MA10) of between 25 MPa and 50 MPa.

9. The adapter according to claim 1, wherein the body comprises an annular seat reinforcer (19) facing the adapter seat.

10. The adapter according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcing element of the axially outer end is selected from metal, nylon, polyethylene, aramid, and composite materials.

11. The adapter according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcing element of the axially inner end is selected from metal, nylon, polyethylene, aramid, and composite materials.

12. The adapter according to claim 10, wherein the composite material is made from glass fibres embedded in a resin material.

13. The adapter according to claim 1, wherein the body has an axial length greater than 2.54 cm and less than 8 cm.

14. The adapter according to claim 9, wherein the body has an axial length greater than 3.17 cm and less than 5.10 cm.

15. A rolling assembly having an axis of rotation and comprising: a tire having two beads, a rim, at least one adapter providing the connection between one of the beads and the rim, according to claim 1, the rim having two rim seats, wherein the adapter comprises: an axially inner end adapted to be mounted on a rim seat and comprises an inner reinforcing element; an axially outer end that comprises an outer reinforcing element; a body that connects said axially outer end to said axially inner end so as to form a single piece and comprises at least one main reinforcement that provides the connection between said outer reinforcing element and said inner reinforcing element, a substantially cylindrical adapter seat adapted to receive one of the beads, the said seat being situated at the axially outer end of the said body; and an adapter bearing face substantially contained in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation, said adapter bearing face being situated on the axially inner face of the axially outer end, wherein the reinforcing element of the axially outer end is entirely situated axially outside the bearing face, wherein the body comprises at least one isotropic material selected from polyurethane, nylon, polyethylene terephthalate, polybutadiene terephthalate, silicones.

16. The rolling assembly according to claim 15, wherein a first and a second adapter each have a body with an identical or different length.

17. The rolling assembly according to claim 15, wherein the body comprises two isotropic materials.

18. The rolling assembly according to claim 15, wherein the two isotropic materials are of identical chemical natures.

19. The rolling assembly according to claim 16, wherein the two isotropic materials are of different chemical natures.

20. The rolling assembly according to claim 15, wherein the body has an axial length greater than 2.54 cm and less than 8 cm.

21. The rolling assembly according to claim 15, wherein the body has an axial length greater than 3.17 cm and less than 5.10 cm.

22. The rolling assembly according to claim 15, wherein the reinforcing element of the axially outer end is selected from metal, nylon, polyethylene, aramid, and composite materials.

23. The rolling assembly according claim 15, wherein the reinforcing element of the axially inner end is selected from metal, nylon, polyethylene, aramid, and composite materials.

Description

[0088] The invention will now be described with the aid of examples and figures which follow and which are given purely by way of illustration, and in which:

[0089] FIG. 1 schematically depicts the adapter according to the prior art,

[0090] FIG. 2 depicts, schematically and in radial section, a tire mounted on two adapters according to the invention, which are themselves fitted on the rim in a removable manner,

[0091] FIG. 3 depicts a schematic view, in radial section, of a non-mounted adapter according to a first alternative form of the invention,

[0092] FIG. 4 depict a schematic view, in radial section, of a non-mounted adapter according to a second alternative form of the invention,

[0093] FIGS. 5A and 5B depict the adapter according to a third alternative form, in perspective and in section, respectively.

[0094] FIG. 1, which depicts an adapter according to the prior art, comprises a tire P (partially depicted), an adapter A and a rim J.

[0095] The tire, of which the design per se is unaltered in the invention, is formed of a tread reinforced by a crown reinforcement joined to two beads B on either side of an equatorial plane XX by way of two sidewalls 1. A carcass reinforcement 2 that mainly reinforces the sidewalls 1 is anchored in each bead B to at least one bead wire, in this case of the braided type 3, so as to form turn-ups 4 that are separated from the main part of the carcass reinforcement by profiled elements 5 having a quasi triangular shape.

[0096] It is important to note that the invention can be implemented with a very large number of types of tire, be they radial tires or cross-ply tires, or even with tires of the type having self-supporting sidewalls.

[0097] The rim J comprises a groove 6, known as a mounting groove, that connects, on either side of the equatorial plane, two rim seats 7 that are axially extended by rim flanges 8, the radially outer edges of which are curved over.

[0098] The adapter A mainly comprises an axially outer end 9, an axially inner end 10 and a body 11 connecting the said end 9 to the said end 10.

[0099] The axially outer end 9 comprises an outer reinforcing element 20 made up of a first portion 20a that is connected to a second portion 20b that between them form a substantially perpendicular angle. During the mounting of the tire, the bead seat for the bead B is fitted into the space created by this outer reinforcing element 20.

[0100] FIG. 2 depicts a mounted assembly comprising two adapters A according to the invention that connect the beads B of the tire P to the two rim flanges 8 of the rim J. The adapters in this FIG. 2 are detachable from the rim J and from the beads B of the tire.

[0101] The adapter A, which is positioned at each bead B of the tire, may be symmetrical or non-symmetrical. Symmetry is defined as meaning that the overall length of the body 11 is identical on the two adapters. When the assembly (tire, rim and adapter) is mounted, the beads B of the tire are positioned on the adapter seat 14 and made to bear axially against a bearing face 21.

[0102] FIG. 3 depicts an adapter according to the invention which is not mounted on a rim. This adapter comprises, on one side, an axially outer end 9 with an outer reinforcer 15 having a substantially spherical geometric shape in section, consisting of a composite material such as glass-fibre-reinforced plastic, and, on the other side, an axially inner end 10 with a metal reinforcer 16, and finally a body 11 made of an isotropic material, polyurethane.

[0103] The body 11 comprises a substantially cylindrical adapter seat 18 that is intended to receive a bead of the tire that is disposed at the axially outer end of the body 11. The total thickness d of the body 11 is approximately 6 mm.

[0104] The body 11 also comprises an adapter bearing face 21 that is contained substantially in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation, is situated on the axially inner face of the axially outer end, and is intended to keep the bead in place in its housing. This adapter seat 18 comprises an annular seat reinforcer 19 that has a compression modulus equal to 100 GPa. According to the depiction in this FIG. 3, the entirety of the reinforcer 19 is positioned at the radially outer surface of the surface of the body 11.

[0105] The body 11 has a length of about 3.175 cm (1.25 inches). This length is measured between the bearing face 21 and the axially outer lip 22 of the axially inner end 10.

[0106] In contrast to the known device (FIG. 1), the annular seat reinforcer 19 is not secured to the outer reinforcer 15. These two reinforcers 19, 15 are entirely independent of one another.

[0107] The reinforcer 19 is made up of a tri-layer comprising metal reinforcers in the form of wires, alternating with an elastomer of the rubber-resin type. The reinforcer 19 has a radial thickness of about 1.5 mm and an axial length of about 15 mm.

[0108] The elastomer layer of the reinforcer 19 has a radial thickness of about 0.3 mm and an axial length of about 15 mm.

[0109] A layer of elastomer 20 covers all of the elements that make up the adapter, namely the reinforcer 15, the reinforcer 16, the body 11 and the radially outer surface of the reinforcer 19.

[0110] FIG. 4 differs from FIG. 3 by the presence of two isotropic materials in the body 11. The first material 23, which is polyethylene terephthalate, is positioned in such a way as to connect the two, outer 15 and inner 16, reinforcers. This first material 23 has a modulus at 10% strain (MA10) of 500 MPa. The second material 24, which is polyurethane, is positioned in such a way as to cover the entirety of the first material 23. The second material 24 has a modulus at 10% strain (MA10) of 30 MPa.

[0111] The total thickness d of the body 11 is comprised between 3 and 4 mm. The thickness d.sub.1 of the first material 23 is comprised between 2 and 3 mm. The thickness d.sub.2 of the second material 24 is comprised between 0.5 and 1 mm.

[0112] According to another alternative form (not depicted), the second material 24 may be positioned in such a way as to cover just part of the first material 23, and preferably that part of the adapter that is visible from the outside of the vehicle, this being for aesthetic reasons. The second material may also cover only that part of the adapter in contact with the rim or the tire, this being for functional reasons.

[0113] FIGS. 5A and 5B show that the first material 23 is arranged discontinuously and that it is covered with the second material 24 arranged continuously.

[0114] The following examples show the results obtained with the adapter according to the invention.

EXAMPLE 1: KERBING TESTS

[0115] This test involves causing a mounted assembly to mount a kerb, at a defined speed, at an angle of attack of 30. This choice of angle is based on the fact that it represents a loading that is very penalizing to a tire. The test is performed with two different kerb heights (90 mm and 110 mm).
The test proceeds as follows. Several passes are made with the wheel at different speeds until the tire becomes punctured. The starting speed is 20 km/h and then the speed is incremented by 5 km/h on each new pass.
A conventional assembly without an adapter (control 1) is compared against an assembly fitted with an adapter according to document WO00/78565 (control 2) and against an assembly fitted with an adapter according to the invention (invention). These assemblies are all of the size 205/55R16 comprising a 6.5J16 rim. The results are collated in the following Table I and are given in percent:

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE I Control 1 Control 2 Invention Percentage of the puncturing speed 100 >150 >150 compared with control - kerb height 90 mm Level of vertical thrust force (Fz) 100 50 45 recorded at the puncturing speed for Control 1
The test performed on the kerb height of 90 mm leads to the control tire puncturing at a speed of 30 km/h, whereas the assembly according to the invention suffers no damage at this same speed, or even at a speed of 50 km/h.
The test performed on the kerb height of 110 mm leads to the control tire puncturing at a speed of 20 km/h, whereas the assembly according to the invention suffers no damage at this same speed, or even at a speed of 40 km/h.

EXAMPLE 2: MAINTAINING OVERALL RIGIDITY WHILE REDUCING TOTAL MASS

[0116] When an adapter is dimensioned in accordance with the invention, it is necessary to take into consideration the overall vertical rigidity of the mounted assembly which comprises this adapter. In the case of an adapter containing polyurethane as its only isotropic material, the adapter obtained has a total thickness of 6 mm and weighs 940 g, excluding the mass of the reinforcers.

[0117] In the case of an adapter containing polyethylene terephthalate as its first material with a thickness d.sub.1 of 2 mm, and polyurethane as its second material with a thickness d.sub.2 of 0.5 mm, the object obtained has a total thickness d of 3 mm, and weighs 700 g, excluding the mass of the reinforcers.

[0118] When the total thickness is 4 mm, the adapter has a weight of 765 g, excluding the mass of the reinforcers.

EXAMPLE 3: VERTICAL RIGIDITY MEASUREMENT

[0119] This example involves measuring the vertical rigidity of a mounted assembly comprising an adapter according to the invention. This adapter comprises a single isotropic material (polyurethane) having a modulus at 10% strain (MA10) comprised between 30 and 50 MPa, a glass fibre reinforced plastic composite as outer reinforcing element, having a modulus at 10% strain (MA10) of 40 000 MPa in the direction of the glass fibres, a modulus at 10% strain (MA10) of 4000 MPa in the other two dimensions, and a shear modulus of 2500 MPa.

[0120] This measurement consists in estimating the deflection of an adapter rigidly immobilized, in contact with the rim and subjected to a force of 250 daN

[0121] The deflection lies at around 9 mm (which corresponds to a secant rigidity of 27.5 daN/mm per adapter, namely 55 daN/mm for two adapters).

[0122] The deformation of the polyurethane remains limited, and represents approximately 11%.