HANOVER, Germany—Czech tire maker Mitas A.S. is developing, under license, a lower pressure farm tire that offers a 53-percent larger footprint and more than double the lateral stability than standard farm tires.
The tire maker is developing the tire—dubbed PneuTrac—in partnership with Galileo Wheel Ltd., an Israeli technology company that has been working on the design for the past several years. Mitas showed the concept at Agritechnica 2013, the biennial farm equipment show in Hanover last week.
Galileo has described its "CupWheel" design as having an "accordion-shape" folding sidewall that allows the outer circumference to change its shape freely and move about the wheel center in all directions. While air pressure drops, the sidewall folds, not collapsing as in a standard tire, therefore generating far less heat.
Mitas claims its tests on an 18-inch rim have demonstrated the concept's benefits of a larger footprint, higher lateral stability and greater traction at a lower inflation pressure. PneuTrac mounts on standard rims, according to the company.
The PneuTrac offers less soil compaction because of its lower operating pressure, said Galileo Wheel CEO Alon Hayka.
The larger footprint and higher tractive force "ensures gentle ground handling with much lower and improved distribution of pressure to the ground with less soil compaction, Mitas said.
The PneuTrac is not yet commercially available, but Mitas is confident it can bring it to market.
The company also presented a range extension of its Super Flexion Tires at Agritechnica. Mitas SFT tires are made for high-horsepower tractors with more than 180 hp and are sold in the North American market, the company said. New sizes of the SFT are: 900/60R42; 710/60R34; 650/60R34; 710/65R46; 750/65R26 and 580/85R42.
Mitas said its Super Flexion Tires compete with the Improved Flexion concept, with its main advantage being the flexibility of variable inflation pressure and optimal performance according to application. Flexible ultra-strong sidewalls allow low inflation pressures for high load carrying capacities, gentle ground handling and higher yields, the tire maker said.
New sizes of the SFT will be available to worldwide markets during 2014.