Posted on 06/22/2019 9:45:42 AM PDT by simpson96
Michelin's new Unique Puncture-Proof Tire System (Uptis) does away with one of the defining aspects of tires as we've known them for more than 100 years: the air inside. Unlike past attempts at airless tires, Uptis functions the way other modern tires do and, Michelin claims, will provide a similar driving experience.
Unveiled at the company's sustainable-mobility-focused Movin'On Summit in Montreal today, Uptis is a tire without a traditional sidewall that carries its load by the top thanks to a new resin-embedded fiberglass material that Michelin was granted over 50 patents for. "The idea was to develop a technology that was strong enough to carry the load but light enough to replace the air," Cyrille Roget, technical and scientific communication director for the Michelin Group, told Car and Driver. "If you have a load on the tire and you cut all the spokes at the bottom, you will see that nothing will change, demonstrating that the load is carried by the top of it, not by the under parts." Other airless tires, he said, often carry the load at the bottom of the tire, which is very inefficient and causes extra heating due to compression.
Uptis is not Michelin's first airless concept tire. It builds on the Vision concept that was introduced at the 2017 summit meeting. That concept had four main components: it was airless, connected, could be 3D printed (or have a rechargeable tread pattern), and was 100 percent sustainable. Uptis tackles the first of those problems as part of what Roget called a "step by step" process to the tire of the future. Michelin will test Uptis in the real world with General Motors. GM will outfit a fleet of its Chevrolet Bolt EV hatchbacks with the concept tires for
Michelin Introduce Puncture Proof Airless Tire
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
“First poster but doesn’t read the post he is posting to.”
Didn’t see anything in the text that addressed my concern. In first minute of video (around 40 seconds in) the tire compresses at the bottom. I am not sure what happens in that scenario if part of the tire that compresses is not allowed to.
I didn’t watch the whole video and am am not a tire engineer. As another poster noted not sure what happens if solid ice forms in part of the tire what happens. Somebody noted the have a cover on the outside. We’ll see.
“Didn’t see anything in the text that addressed my concern.”
Try this.
“That’s the kind of work Michelin will do with GM to figure out the right structure and number of spokes, which type of rubber to put on the outside, and how to embed the fiberglass in the tire depending on the vehicle application.”
” In first minute of video (around 40 seconds in) the tire compresses at the bottom. I am not sure what happens in that scenario if part of the tire that compresses is not allowed to.”
I am not sure what is your point.
How much?
When I watched the tape of the tread collapsing it seemed to go clear to the rim. That’s where I made my assessment.
rwood
“How many times has that been a movie plot?”
He didn’t say it was near a cemetery, an old castle, with howling wolves. He’s got the making of a new screenplay. Now all he needs is James Bernard to do the music, filmed at Hammer Studios, and directed by Michael Carreras. Got to be a hit with the gothes.
rwood
“When I watched the tape of the tread collapsing it seemed to go clear to the rim.”
Yes. Just like a conventional tire. But probably with better survivability.
That’s the kind of work Michelin will do with GM to figure out the right structure and number of spokes, which type of rubber to put on the outside, and how to embed the fiberglass in the tire depending on the vehicle application.”
Nope
YEP!
Run-flat tires probably give the same sort of experience...used to be that suspensions softened the road and traditional tires helped...these days, they opt for stability and agility with tighter suspensions and a lot of the performance 9=(and “regular”) tires add to the stiffness.
“But probably with better survivability.”
Maybe. But in an aired tire the rubber is not the entire cushion as it is never designed to take the jar from the blow. The air under pressure is. And as you cannot damage air that way, it springs back with an alternate amount of pressure. Each time you hit the rubber with the rim, there will be damage to the rubber. And depending on the amount of jar will depend on the damage to the tire on each instance. So a series of light contact or one big one could do enough damage to harm the tire.
rwood
“....these days, they opt for stability and agility with tighter suspensions...”
If you are young and adventurous, most likely. Hence the sales of four wheel drive, huge horsepower mid sizes, and larger pickups, play and work. The car they displayed in the video pushed toward a performance car rather than a family car. I don’t have a family anymore, but I also don’t want to be driving a vehicle that rides like a tank. Old body can’t take the pounding anymore as I haven’t been 18 and adventurous for over forty years. Too many miles of rough roads in between. And anything that adds to that “jar” means sore spots and more pain pills. That may have its advantages but it also keeps me off the roads if I do want to go see something. Haven’t got enough time left to see what I want to as it is now. Would like to do it in comfort rather than speed and maneuverability. Those days are over.
rwood
It needs some sort of sidewall system to keep dirt and debris out, but I’m ready to put them on my vehicles.
Gonna need a bigger spike...
Yep.
“It needs some sort of sidewall system to keep dirt and debris out, but I’m ready to put them on my vehicles.”
Production tires will have sidewalls.
I had a Mercedes CLA250 with the AMG package....was very quick and a lot of fun to drive, but the suspension was so hard it might as well have been solid....had to trade it in on a GLC300 which is stiff but not uncomfortable...the wife drives a Highlander and it is a bit softer riding but still lets you feel the road.
I’d imagine that most of the truly comfortable cars have the computer controlled adjustable suspensions.
Colin Chapman developed the original concept of computer management of hydraulic suspension in the 1980s to improve cornering in racing cars and it was called Electronic actuation of the draulic suspensions in the 1980’s. But it was never offered to the public.
Williams Grand Prix Engineering prepared an active suspension for F1 cars in 1992, creating such successful cars that the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile decided to ban the technology.
Part of that technology was finally put in Citrons and later Mercedes got into the game in the really late 90’s when the Mercedes-Benz CL-Class (C215) introduced Active Body Control, where high pressure hydraulics are controlled by electronic computing, and this feature is still available.
I guess some of it has really gone Buck Rodgers as Michelin’s Active Wheel for electric vehicles developed in 2004 incorporates an in-wheel electrical suspension motor that controls torque distribution, traction, turning maneuvers, pitch, roll and suspension damping for that wheel, in addition to an in-wheel electric traction motor. It is currently being tested and used by Renault. Times sure change and the puncture proof tire is right in the wheelhouse.
rwood
Thanks for the background - knew the availability for computer adjusted suspensions but not the background info.
I thought Citroen had hydraulics in the 70s - a guy I worked with had to change a tire on his and he decided to show off by driving around the parking lot with only 3 tires on the car.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.