Pneumatic Vehicle Tire

Abstract

A pneumatic vehicle tire of a radial type of construction with a profiled tread (1), sidewalls (3), bead regions (2) and an airtight inner layer (4), which forms the inner side (4a) facing the interior space of the pneumatic vehicle tire, ribs (6) being formed on the inner layer (4), having been imprinted in it by a heating bladder introduced into the interior of the tire during the vulcanizing of the pneumatic vehicle tire in a tire heating mold, and a sound absorber (5) being provided so as to extend in an annular manner on a circumferential region (4b) of the inner side (4a) opposite from the tread (1).

Grooves (7) have been formed by the heating bladder at least in a partial region of the circumferential region (4b) of the inner layer (4a) on which the sound absorber (5) is provided.

Claims

1.-14. (canceled)

15. A pneumatic vehicle tire of a radial type of construction comprising a profiled tread, sidewalls, bead regions and an airtight inner layer which forms an inner side facing an interior space of the pneumatic vehicle tire, wherein ribs are formed on the airtight inner layer by being imprinted in the airtight inner layer by a heating bladder introduced into the interior space of the tire during the vulcanizing of the pneumatic vehicle tire in a tire heating mold, and wherein a sound absorber is provided which extends in an annular manner on a circumferential region of the inner side opposite from the profiled tread; and, wherein grooves are formed by the heating bladder at least in a partial region of the circumferential region of the airtight inner layer on which the sound absorber is provided, and wherein the grooves run in the circumferential direction of the tire.

16. The pneumatic vehicle tire as claimed in claim 15, wherein the grooves are formed in a middle circumferential region of the airtight inner layer that is free from the ribs.

17. The pneumatic vehicle tire as claimed in claim 15, wherein the grooves are formed laterally of a middle circumferential region of the airtight inner layer that is free from the ribs.

18. The pneumatic vehicle tire as claimed in claim 15, wherein the grooves or portions of grooves cross the ribs.

19. The pneumatic vehicle tire as claimed in claim 15, wherein the grooves have, on the inner side of the airtight inner layer, a width (b.sub.4) of 2 mm to 4 mm.

20. The pneumatic vehicle tire as claimed in claim 15, wherein the grooves have, on the inner side of the airtight inner layer, a mutual spacing (a.sub.2) of 2 mm to 9 mm.

21. The pneumatic vehicle tire as claimed in claim 15, wherein the grooves have a depth (t) with respect to the level of the inner side of the airtight inner layer of 0.5 mm to 1 mm.

22. The pneumatic vehicle tire as claimed in claim 15, wherein the grooves have a round, semicircular, cross section.

23. A pneumatic vehicle tire of a radial type of construction comprising a profiled tread, sidewalls, bead regions and an airtight inner layer which forms an inner side facing an interior space of the pneumatic vehicle tire, wherein ribs are formed on the airtight inner layer by being imprinted in the airtight inner layer by a heating bladder introduced into the interior space of the tire during the vulcanizing of the pneumatic vehicle tire in a tire heating mold, and wherein a sound absorber is provided which extends in an annular manner on a circumferential region of the inner side opposite from the profiled tread; and, wherein grooves are formed by the heating bladder at least in a partial region of the circumferential region of the airtight inner layer on which the sound absorber is provided, and wherein the grooves run in the form of a circle or in some other way along uninterrupted paths.

24. The pneumatic vehicle tire as claimed in claim 23, wherein the grooves are formed as running at least essentially parallel to the ribs.

25. The pneumatic vehicle tire as claimed in claim 23, wherein the grooves, or portions of grooves, are formed as running between the ribs.

26. The pneumatic vehicle tire as claimed in claim 23, wherein the grooves have, on the inner side of the airtight inner layer, a width (b.sub.4) of 2 mm to 4 mm.

27. The pneumatic vehicle tire as claimed in claim 23, wherein the grooves have, on the inner side of the airtight inner layer, a mutual spacing (a.sub.2) of 2 mm to 9 mm.

28. The pneumatic vehicle tire as claimed in claim 23, wherein the grooves have a depth (t) with respect to the level of the inner side of the airtight inner layer of 0.5 mm to 1 mm.

29. The pneumatic vehicle tire as claimed in claim 23, wherein the grooves have a round, semicircular, cross section.

30. A pneumatic vehicle tire of a radial type of construction comprising a profiled tread, sidewalls, bead regions and an airtight inner layer which forms an inner side facing an interior space of the pneumatic vehicle tire, wherein ribs are formed on the airtight inner layer by being imprinted in the airtight inner layer by a heating bladder introduced into the interior space of the tire during the vulcanizing of the pneumatic vehicle tire in a tire heating mold, and wherein a sound absorber is provided which extends in an annular manner on a circumferential region of the inner side opposite from the profiled tread; and, wherein grooves are formed by the heating bladder at least in a partial region of the circumferential region of the airtight inner layer on which the sound absorber is provided, and wherein the grooves run in the form of a wave or zigzag.

31. The pneumatic vehicle tire as claimed in claim 30, wherein the grooves have, on the inner side of the airtight inner layer, a width (b.sub.4) of 2 mm to 4 mm.

32. The pneumatic vehicle tire as claimed in claim 30, wherein the grooves have, on the inner side of the airtight inner layer, a mutual spacing (a.sub.2) of 2 mm to 9 mm.

33. The pneumatic vehicle tire as claimed in claim 30, wherein the grooves have a depth (t) with respect to the level of the inner side of the airtight inner layer of 0.5 mm to 1 mm.

34. The pneumatic vehicle tire as claimed in claim 30, wherein the grooves have a round, semicircular, cross section.

Description

[0012] Further features, advantages and details of the invention will now be explained in more detail on the basis of the schematic drawing. In the figures:

[0013] FIG. 1 shows a cross section through a pneumatic vehicle tire,

[0014] FIG. 2 shows a view of a circumferential portion of the pneumatic vehicle tire with a view of the inner side of the pneumatic vehicle tire and

[0015] FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 show plan views of details of the inner side of a pneumatic vehicle tire with different design variants of the invention.

[0016] FIG. 1 schematically shows the cross section of a tubeless pneumatic vehicle tire of a radial type of construction, intended in particular for passenger cars, vans or light trucks, with a profiled tread 1, bead regions 2, in which a bead core 2a is respectively anchored, and sidewalls 3. Not shown are further components that reinforce the pneumatic vehicle tire, such as a radial carcass and a multi-ply breaker belt. The pneumatic vehicle tire has an airtight inner layer 4, which covers and forms the inner side 4a of the tire. FIG. 1 also shows a sound absorber 5, which extends in an annular manner on the inner side 4a of the pneumatic vehicle tire, is bonded to the inner side 4a by being adhesively attached either over its full surface area or partially, and preferably consists of a thermoplastic or elastomeric foam, in particular of polyurethane foam. The sound absorber 5 has a constant width b.sub.1 over the circumference of the tire, which is between 30% and 100% of the ground contact area of the tire. The likewise constant thickness of the sound absorber 5 is between 5% and 20% of the width b.sub.1, and therefore for example between 20 mm and 50 mm, depending on the tire size.

[0017] As shown for example by FIG. 2, a multiplicity of ribs 6 running parallel to one another are formed on the inner side 4a of the tire. The ribs 6 are formed during the vulcanizing of the pneumatic vehicle tire in a tire heating mold by the heating bladder that is introduced into the tire to be vulcanized and is charged inside with a hot medium, for example hot steam. A multiplicity of grooves are usually formed on the outer side of the heating bladders, in order to ensure dissipation of the air between the heating bladder and the green tire during the forming of the imprint by the heating bladder. If the heating bladder filled with heating medium lies against the inner side of the green tire, it imprints the mentioned ribs 6 into the inner layer 4. These ribs 6 usually run in the way shown in FIG. 2, in most cases without any ribs 6 being formed in a central circumferential region 4b on the inner side 4a. In most cases, this circumferential region 4b has in the axial direction a width b.sub.2 of 20 mm to 100 mm. On each side of this circumferential region 4b, the ribs 6 run between the edge of the circumferential region 4b into the respective bead region 2 obliquely in relation to the circumferential direction over the inner side 4a. At the region of the inner side 4a opposite from the tread 1, the ribs 6 form with the axial direction for example an acute angle of 30 to 45. As shown in FIG. 1, the ribs 6 have at their base for example a width b.sub.3 of 2 mm to 3 mm, their mutual spacing a.sub.1 is usually 8 mm to 9 mm, their maximum height h in particular 0.5 mm to 1 mm. The cross-sectional area of the ribs 6 is also usually rounded, for example in an essentially semicircular manner, but may also be essentially rectangular.

[0018] According to the invention, at least in a partial region of the region of the inner side 4a of the inner layer 4 that comes into contact with the sound absorber 5, grooves 7 are thus imprinted by the heating bladder in addition to the ribs 6. The grooves 7 are therefore produced by corresponding elevations on the outer side of the heating bladder and are preferably located at most in that region of the inner layer in which it is intended to provide the sound absorber 5. As FIG. 2 shows, the grooves 7 on the inner side 4a of the inner layer 4 have a width b.sub.4 of in particular 2 mm to 4 mm, their depth t is preferably 0.5 mm to 1 mm, their mutual spacing a.sub.2 on the inner side 4a in particular 2 mm to 9 mm. In cross section, they are designed in particular in a trough-like manner, therefore are rounded for example in a semicircular manner, but may also have at their deepest point groove walls which converge to a point or may be bounded by groove walls which overall run essentially in a rectangular manner. In the case of the design shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the grooves 7 run in the circumferential direction, parallel to one another and in the middle circumferential region 4b, a groove 7 respectively running laterally of the circumferential region 4b and crossing ribs 6.

[0019] In the case of one possible design variant of the invention, grooves 7 are only formed in the middle circumferential region 4b of the inner layer 4 that is free from ribs 6. In principle, the grooves 7 may also run in the axial direction or obliquely or diagonally in relation to the circumferential direction of the tire, it being possible for their orientation to coincide with that of the ribs 6 and in this case for the grooves 7 to run between the ribs 6. In the case of further design variants of the invention, the grooves 7 run in the form of a wave or zigzag in any desired direction or along circles or other uninterrupted paths. Another possible design variant is one in which the grooves 7 are only formed laterally of the circumferential region that is free from ribs 6.

[0020] FIG. 3 shows a detail of the inner side 4a with grooves 7 which run between and parallel to the ribs 6. In the case of the detail shown in FIG. 4, grooves 7 running parallel to one another cross the ribs 6.

[0021] As mentioned, there are many other possibilities that are not shown for forming grooves 7 in that region in which the sound absorber 5 is provided. Since the grooves 7 increase the adhesive-bonding area with respect to the sound absorber 5 while the projected area remains the same size, on the one hand the thickness of the adhesive bonding layer can be reduced to achieve an at least essentially equally good adhesive force, whereby there is a saving of material, weight and also costs. The invention also makes it possible to adhesively attach the sound absorber 5 partially, and in particular in those regions where specifically grooves 7 are formed. This measure also makes it possible to save weight, material and costs.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0022] 1 . . . Tread [0023] 2 . . . Bead region [0024] 2a . . . Bead core [0025] 3 . . . Sidewall [0026] 4 . . . Inner layer [0027] 4a . . . Inner side [0028] 4b . . . Circumferential region [0029] 5 . . . Sound absorber [0030] 6 . . . Ribs [0031] 7 . . . Grooves [0032] a.sub.1, a.sub.2 . . . Spacing [0033] b.sub.1, b.sub.2, b.sub.3, b.sub.4 . . . Width [0034] h . . . Height [0035] t . . . Depth