MICHELIN TWEEL

By Deepak V1020910056

HISTORY OF AUTOMOBILE TYRE

1844 - Charles Goodyear invents vulcanised rubber

1888 - John Dunlop invents pneumatic tyres for bicycles

1911 - Philip Strauss invents the first successful automobile tyre, which was a combination tyre and air filled inner tube.

1948 - Michelin patents the radial tyre

RADIAL TYRE

A radial tire is a particular design of automotive tyre.

In this design, the cord plies are arranged at 90 degrees to the direction of travel.

To add further stiffness, the entire tire is surrounded by additional belts that are oriented along the direction of travel. These belts can be made of steel,Polyester ,Twaron and Kevlar

TWEEL

The Tweel is an experimental tire design developed by the French tire company Michelin

An airless, integrated tyre and wheel combination

The tire uses no air, and therefore cannot burst or become flat.

TWEEL

STRUCTURE

The Tweel consists of a cable-reinforced band of conventional tire rubber with molded tread, a shear band just below the tread that creates a compliant contact patch, and a series of energy-absorbing polyurethane spokes.

The flexible spokes are fused with a flexible wheel that deforms to absorb shock and rebound with ease.

MERITS

Tweel delivers pneumatic-like performance in weight-carrying capacity, ride comfort, and the ability to "envelope" road hazards.

The tread to last two to three times as long as a conventional tire

Can tune Tweel performances independently of each other, which is a significant change from conventional tires

MERITS

Vertical stiffness which primarily affects ride comfort and lateral stiffness which affects handling and cornering can both be optimised.

Because only the tread around the circumference would be disposed of when worn as opposed to a whole tire, the environmental impact should be less.

CONCERNS

Above 50 mph (80 km/h), the Tweel vibrates considerably, which in itself is a problem that also gives rise to undesired noise and heat

A fast-moving Tweel is unpleasantly loud

Produces 5 percent more friction compared to a radial tire

APPLICATIONS

Given the high speed problems with the Tweel, the first commercial applications will be in lower-speed, lower-weight vehicles such as wheelchairs, scooters, and other such devices.

NASA has contracted Michelin to develop a wheel for the next generation Lunar Rover based on the Tweel