PNEUMATIC VEHICLE TIRE

Abstract

The invention is directed to a pneumatic vehicle tire which includes a foam sound absorber in its interior, adhesively attached to the inner surface opposite from the tread and extending in an annular manner over the circumference of the tire. The sound absorber adheres to a previously applied, self-sealing sealant which, at least immediately after its application, has a tackiness required for the adhesive attachment of the sound absorber. The sound absorber is made up of a plurality of annular component sound-absorber elements that extend in the circumferential direction. Two directly adjacently arranged annular component sound-absorber elements are spaced apart from one another in the axial direction by a clear distance.

Claims

1. A pneumatic vehicle tire defining a tire circumference and comprising: a tire body defining an axial direction and having a tread and inner surface lying opposite said tread; said inner surface defining the interior of said vehicle tire; a sound absorber of foam material running in said interior and applied adheringly in an annular manner to said inner surface over said tire circumference; a self sealing sealant applied in advance to which said sound absorber adheres; said sealant having a tackiness at least directly after application thereof required for causing said sound absorber to adhere; said sound absorber including a plurality of annular-shaped component sound absorbing elements running in the direction of said tire circumference; said component sound absorbing elements being arranged one next to the other in said axial direction; and, two mutually adjacent ones of said component sound absorbing elements conjointly defining a clear distance therebetween in said axial direction.

2. The pneumatic vehicle tire of claim 1, wherein said clear distance lies in a range of 5 mm to 200 mm measured in said axial direction at an elevation corresponding to the broadest extent of the corresponding component sound absorbing elements.

3. The pneumatic vehicle tire of claim 1, wherein said clear distance lies in a range of 5 mm to 100 mm measured in said axial direction at an elevation corresponding to the broadest extent of the corresponding component sound absorbing elements.

4. The pneumatic vehicle tire of claim 1, wherein said clear distance lies in a range of 10 mm to 20 mm measured in said axial direction at an elevation corresponding to the broadest extent of the corresponding component sound absorbing elements.

5. The pneumatic vehicle tire of claim 1, wherein said component sound absorbing elements have a cross section having a form corresponding to at least one of the following: a circle, a half circle, an irregular polygon, a regular polygon including a regular triangle or a regular quadrilateral.

6. The pneumatic vehicle tire of claim 1, wherein each one of said component sound absorbing elements has a width lying in a range of 5 mm to 15 mm measured in said axial direction at an elevation of widest extent of said one of said component sound absorbing elements.

7. The pneumatic vehicle tire of claim 1, wherein each one of said component sound absorbing elements has a width lying in a range of 8 mm to 12 mm measured in said axial direction at an elevation of widest extent of said one of said component sound absorbing elements.

8. The pneumatic vehicle tire of claim 1, wherein each one of said component sound absorbing elements has a width lying in a range of 8 mm to approximately 10 mm measured in said axial direction at an elevation of widest extent of said one of said component sound absorbing elements.

9. The pneumatic vehicle tire of claim 1, wherein said sealant is a polyurethane gel.

10. The pneumatic vehicle tire of claim 1, wherein said sealant is a viscous mixture on the basis of one of the following: a butyl rubber, polybutene or silicone.

11. The pneumatic vehicle tire of claim 1, wherein said sealant has a thickness lying in a range of 2 mm to 5 mm.

12. The pneumatic vehicle tire of claim 1, wherein said sealant has a thickness lying in a range of 2 mm to approximately 3.5 mm.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The invention will now be described with reference to the drawings wherein:

[0017] FIG. 1 shows a cross section through a pneumatic vehicle tire of the prior art; and,

[0018] FIG. 2 shows a cross section through a pneumatic vehicle tire according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0019] FIG. 1 is a cross section through a radial automobile tire having a profiled tread 1, sidewalls 2, bead regions 3, bead cores 4 and also a multi-ply belt assembly 5 and a carcass insert 6. On its inner surface, the tire is covered with an inner layer 7 of an airtight rubber compound. Applied to the inner surface of the inner layer 7, the inner surface being opposite from the tread 1, is a sealant 8 which, in the event of a puncture (tire damage), is capable of acting in a self-sealing manner. Adhering to the sealant 8 over the full surface area is a one-piece annular inner absorber 9 assuming the function of a sound absorber, which, immediately after the application of the sealant 8, is pressed onto the sealant 8 while the latter is still sufficiently tacky. With respect to its sound-absorbing properties, the inner absorber 9 is configured appropriately for the tire cavity frequency. The inner absorber 9 has here for example an approximately elongated triangular cross section that is symmetrical with respect to the radially extending axis of symmetry of the tire and adheres by its bottom side on the sealant 8 over the full surface area. The foam of the inner absorber 9 is an open-cell foam, since this is best suited for absorbing sound. Possible sealants are, for example, polyurethane gels or viscous mixtures based on butyl rubbers, polybutenes or silicone, it being possible for the mixtures to contain the customary further constituents, such as plasticizer oils. The sealant is introduced, for example by spraying, such that it covers at least the inner surface opposite from the tread 1. The tire can be rotated in order to optimally distribute the sealant on the inner surface. Furthermore, the sealant is introduced in such an amount that the layer thickness of the sealant is between 7 mm and 8 mm. At least immediately after application, the sealant should be relatively liquid and tacky. At this time, the prefabricated one-piece inner absorber 9 is introduced into the interior of the tire. After full reaction, the inner absorber 9 adheres to the sealant 8, which is elastically deformable, but remains immobile or stationary to the greatest extent.

[0020] FIG. 2 shows a cross section through a pneumatic vehicle tire according to the invention. The pneumatic vehicle tire of FIG. 2 differs from the pneumatic vehicle tire of FIG. 1 in that the sound absorber 9 is made up of a plurality of annular component sound-absorber elements 10 that extend in the circumferential direction. Here, two directly adjacently arranged annular component sound-absorber elements 10 are arranged at a distance 11 from one another in the axial direction aR.

[0021] In FIG. 2, the left half of the cross section shows component sound-absorber elements 10, which in cross section have the form of a circle, by way of example for the entire cross section of the tire. When viewed over the circumference of the tire, the annular component sound-absorber elements 10 adhere linearly to the sealant 8, so that there is a great free sealant surface. Each of the component sound-absorber elements 10 is of approximately the same size and has a width 12 of 8 mm to 12 mm, preferably of 10 mm, measured in the axial direction aR at the level of the widest extent of the component sound-absorber elements 10. The axial distance 11 of the component sound-absorber elements 10 between two directly adjacently arranged component sound-absorber elements 10 is 8 mm to 12 mm, preferably approximately 10 mm, measured in the axial direction aR at the elevation of the widest extent of the component sound-absorber elements 10. The layer thickness 13 of the sealant 8 is very small and is approximately 3.5 mm.

[0022] On the right half of the drawing, various possible cross-sectional geometries of component sound-absorber elements 10, such as semicircles and a wide variety of polygons, such as a triangle, rectanglehorizontal or uprightor a square, are shown by way of example, the sound absorber 9 is preferably made up, however, of component sound-absorber elements 10 of the same geometry.

[0023] It is understood that the foregoing description is that of the preferred embodiments of the invention and that various changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0024] 1 Tread [0025] 2 Sidewall [0026] 3 Bead region [0027] 4 Bead core [0028] 5 Belt assembly [0029] 6 Carcass insert [0030] 7 Inner layer [0031] 8 Sealant layer [0032] 9 Inner absorber/sound absorber [0033] 10 Component sound-absorber element [0034] 11 Distance [0035] 12 Width of a component sound-absorber element [0036] 13 Layer thickness of the sealant [0037] aR Axial direction [0038] rR Radial direction