09-09-2016, 11:39 AM
1454046851-ReportonAirlessTyreorNonPneumatictyre.pdf (Size: 2.15 MB / Downloads: 6)
INTRODUCTION
For more than 100 years, vehicles have been rolling along on cushions of air encased in rubber. Sometimes, we get so used to a certain product that no true changes are ever really made for years, decades even. So begins an article discussing the development of airless tyres, something that has become more prevalent in the past few years. A few tyre companies have started experimenting with designs for non-pneumatic tyres including Michclin and Bridgestone, but neither design has made it to mass production.
Creating a new non-pneumatic design for tyres has more positive implications than one might think. For one thing, there are huge safety benefits. Having an airless tyre means there is no possibility of a blowout, which, in turn, means the number of highway accidents will but cut significantly. Even for situations such as Humvees in the military, utilizing non-pneumatic tyres has a great positive impact on safety. Tyres are the weak point in military vehicles and are often targeted with explosives. If these vehicles used
Report on Airless Tyre or Non-Pneumatic tyre airless tyres, this would no longer be a concern.
There is also an environmental benefit to using this type of tyre. Since they never go flat and can be retreaded, airless tyres will not have to be thrown away and replaced nearly as often as pneumatic tyres. This will cut down landfill mass significantly.
Because of the benefits, I believe that it is extremely important that research and production of airless tyres is continued and increased. This type of innovation works well in conjunction with several engineering codes of ethics, and thus should be embraced by engineers everywhere. Cars are things that people use every day, so any improvements over existing designs would affect the lives of the majority of people. Learning about such a topic, therefore, I believe holds extreme value- especially for us freshmen engineering students. In doing research into these kinds of topics that hold significant meaning, we can see that what we will do can make a difference.
HISTORY
Going back in history, initially a craftsman known as wheelwright forged bands of iron & steel, tying the wheel segments together as the metal contracted around the wheel. Hence the name, tyre, as it tied the wheel together. This was then placed on wooden wheels of carts and wagons.
Explorers had seen Indians using sheets of rubber for waterproofing and in the
1800’s, Charles Mcintosh was experimenting with this latex - sap from a tree in the
Amazon. It had its problems as the cold weather caused it to be brittle whilst in hot
weather they became sticky. However, in 1839, Charles Goodyear discovered that by
adding sulphur to the melted latex it gave elasticity and strength. This vulcanized rubber
was used to as cushion tvres for cvcles.