Improving the Active Safety of Vehicles by Developing Smart Tires
The need for developing new technologies in different fields of engineering is steadily growing. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the use of special kind of tire known as smart tire. Focusing on improving the active safety of transportation and also emergence of concepts such as Internet of Things (IoT) have driven tire industries to produce this tire. Smart tires mainly consist of different sensors and continuously evaluate various parameters like pressure and temperature. These sensors constantly monitor the performance of the tire and send information to consumer. In this paper, the development process of smart tire in Barez innovation center is explained. This new technology establishes a talk between the driver, the tire, and the car. The Barez smart tire has two main components including a sensor inside the tire and a control unit inside the automobile. The sensors are connected via Bluetooth to an app on a phone that will give a graphical view of the tire’s information such as pressure, temperature and tire wear.
SPEAKER: Amirhossein Shahdadi, Ph. D., Manager of Technology Innovation and Digitization, Barez Industrial Group
Sports Utility Vehicle and Light Truck Radial Tire Survey
During the last 35 years, ExxonMobil Chemical has performed a series of surveys of passenger car radial (PCR) and truck/bus radial (TBR) tires to evaluate the influence of halobutyl rubber on inflation pressure loss rates (IPLR) of tires acquired globally. A survey of Sports Utility Vehicle and Light Truck (SUV/LT) radial tires has recently been completed. It evaluates 22 sets of the very popular size 265/70R17 highway tires globally manufactured by 22 different companies.
Properties such as tire weight, tread depth and cured innerliner gauge were measured, and innerliner composition (polymers, fillers) was determined. Other tire performances were tested, such as inflation pressure loss rate (IPLR as %-loss/month) and rolling resistance (as RRC). Properties for all tires varied widely between companies and among the tire brands. Statistical analysis was conducted on all properties to evaluate significant differences in various categories.
Tire rolling resistance force (RRF) was measured following the ISO 28580 test protocol, and was converted to rolling resistance coefficient (RRC) by dividing the measured force by the actual test load used on the tire. Studies on the relationship between tire inflation pressure and load on the tread footprint and RRC showed that rolling resistance always increased at lower inflation pressures.
SPEAKER: Chris Napier, Sr. Application Development Engineer, ExxonMobil
The Tire’s Role in Autonomous Vehicle Development through the Next Decade
The development of autonomous vehicle technology is evolving quickly with some specialty applications already on the road today. From durability and performance to the use of sensors to collect key data points, the tire will have an important role to play in the autonomous system going forward. Based on Smithers’ newest market study, The Impact of Autonomous Vehicles on Tires to 2029, the presentation will cover market dynamics that are affecting the gradual introduction of autonomous vehicle technology around the world. The discussion will explore various sensor technologies and how tire designs must adjust to account for new handling and durability requirements.
SPEAKER: Bruce Lambillotte, Vice President, Technical Consulting, Smithers
Evaluation of Specialty Elastomers in Tire Innerliner Applications
Isobutylene-Isoprene copolymers (or halobutyl polymers) have been the workhorse of the radial tire innerliner industry for over seven decades. The high packing density of the butyl molecular chains is responsible for its ultra-low permeability as compared to other elastomers; the halogen substitution facilitates bonding to the inside of the carcass layer facilitating the manufacture of tubeless radial tires. From a performance standpoint, it is always desirable to lower the permeability of innerliner materials. isobutylene-co-para-methylstyrene (BIMSM) elastomers, also known as ExxproTM specialty elastomers, possess lower permeability than regular halobutyl polymers and would be an ideal candidate for tire innerliner applications. The permeability reduction is dependent on the para-methylstyrene (pMS) content; and in order to see a substantial reduction, higher amounts of pMS was required. In this report, we will discuss the factory processing characteristics and tire performance of a new ExxproTM specialty elastomer grade (ExxproTM 3563) possessing high levels of pMS, tailored towards innerliner applications. It was found that ExxproTM 3563 had lower permeability, better filler dispersion, higher green strength, better heat resistance and better dimensional stability than halobutyl based innerliners. Tires manufactured with ExxproTM 3563 innerliners had lower inflation pressure loss rates (IPLR) than those based on halobutyl innerliners. It is believed that this advantage in air retention will result in better overall tire performance.
SPEAKER: Sujith Nair, Ph. D., Applications Engineer, ExxonMobil