Nouvelles

TOYO TIRE & RUBBER CO., LTD conduit depuis de nombreuses années de recherches autour du futur du pneumatique tout en ayant un œil sur l’évolution à venir en termes de mobilité. Aujourd’hui, Toyo Tires annonce une avancée significative avec le développement d’un pneu qui ne nécessite pas d’air pour son fonctionnement, naturellement baptisé ‘noair’.

Toyo Tires a entrepris une refonte complète des structures de pneus telles que nous les connaissons actuellement : c’est l’air contenu dans les pneus qui supporte le poids des véhicules. Depuis 2006, Toyo Tires mène des recherches sur le sujet et en mai 2012, un premier prototype a été présenté, notamment durant le salon dédié au pneumatique, le Reifen Messe de Francfort. Les changements fondamentaux dans la structure des pneus des prototypes précédents et la résolution de certaines contraintes ont entraîné des améliorations substantielles à de multiples niveaux, permettant désormais d’utiliser ces pneumatiques pour certaines applications. En  baptisant ce pneu "noair", Toyo Tires continuera de mener des recherches dans le but de pouvoir utiliser ce pneu pour une palette d’utilisation toujours plus large.

■Caractéristiqyes du 'noair'

■Evaluation of characteristic values

Durability vastly exceeds the equivalent legal and regulatory requirements for Toyo Tires commercial products* (pneumatic tires) and at least eight times better than previous prototypes. “Rolling resistance” – which expresses the amount of force that opposes the rotation of the tires – has been reduced by at least half compared to previous prototypes and is 25% better even when compared to Toyo Tires commercial products. On the other hand, superior environment and safety performance levels were also achieved, such as reducing “wet braking distance” – which measures braking performance on wet roads – by 4%. One of the factors underscoring this result was the adoption of fuel efficient tread rubber composed through “Nano Balance Technology,” a unique material design core technology used by Toyo Tires when commercialising fuel-efficient tires.
Road noise has been significantly improved compared to previous prototypes, with a level similar to that of
current pneumatic tires.

         *Toyo Tires commercial products Toyo Teo Plus: tire size 155/65R13, rim: 13×4.5-J, air pressure: 200/220 kPa
         *Airless tire: external diameter 540 mm; width 140 mm; rim equivalent to 14 inches
         *Evaluations were conducted in-house at a Toyo Tires tire proving ground (Tsuno-cho, Koyu-gun, Miyazaki prefecture).

■Performance on actual cars

■Future prospects

Bearing in mind that this concept tire will soon reach a level where it can be fitted to actual vehicles and driven, in addition to giving this concept tire a name, Toyo Tires is considering shifting from the laboratory level to a market perspective, such as by creating colour variations for the spokes.

When considering a society where futuristic mobility, such as EVs and compact cars, will start forming a section of the market, it is currently expected that the need for maintenance-free tires will increase. Furthermore, as it is thought that transportation vehicles which do not run the risk of flat tires will be more effective from a safety perspective, airless tires that do not require filling up with air show great potential.

Although there are some outstanding issues to be resolved before they enter practical use, Toyo Tires will continue to acquire knowledge from multiple fields through the disclosure of current technological levels as well as further advance research and technological development to open up possibilities in the mobility society.