US 12,251,969 B2
Tire tread for a heavy goods vehicle tire having improved incisions
Frédéric Domprobst, Clermont-Ferrand (FR); Etienne Collet, Clermont-Ferrand (FR); and Arnaud Larregain, Clermont-Ferrand (FR)
Assigned to COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN, Clermont-Ferrand (FR)
Appl. No. 17/416,112
Filed by COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN, Clermont-Ferrand (FR)
PCT Filed Dec. 16, 2019, PCT No. PCT/FR2019/053095
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jun. 18, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/128281, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 25, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 1873840 (FR), filed on Dec. 21, 2018; and application No. 1900894 (FR), filed on Jan. 31, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0072912 A1, Mar. 10, 2022
Int. Cl. B60C 11/13 (2006.01)
CPC B60C 11/1307 (2013.01) [B60C 2011/1338 (2013.01); B60C 2200/06 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A tread for a heavy goods vehicle tire comprising a tread surface when new suitable for coming into contact with a road surface when a tire provided with this tread is running, this tread comprising:
a plurality of optimized incisions each having a main direction and a mid-plane, defined by the main direction of the incision and the direction of a thickness of the tread, and opening onto its tread surface when new, each optimized incision comprising two facing walls, suitable for coming into contact with each other when the tread surface passes through a region in which the tire makes contact with the road surface, and being made up of at least two narrow portions and wide portions extending along the main direction of the optimized incision, each narrow portion being surrounded by wide portions, a sum of areas of the narrow portions representing at least 40% of a total surface of the optimized incision, measured in the mid-plane of the optimized incision, and a width of each of the narrow portions being less than 0.4 mm, each wide portion having a width at least equal to 0.4 mm, said widths of narrow portions and wide portions being measured perpendicular to the mid-plane of the optimized incision in the tread surface when new, wherein, for each optimized incision, each of the wide portions extending between two narrow portions includes at least one section inclined in a plane parallel to the mid-plane of the optimized incision and forming an angle other than zero degrees with the direction of the thickness of the tread, said tread further comprising at least one longitudinally-oriented hidden channel extending towards the tread surface by a longitudinal incision, the plurality of optimized incisions transversally intersecting the hidden channel and the incision extending it to the tread surface, the wide portion running along the longitudinal incision and the hidden channel following a geometry of the longitudinal incision and of the hidden channel,
wherein one of:
the optimized incision having two rows of pentagonal protuberance, each having two parallel edges orthogonal to a third edge, and
the optimized incision having a single row of hexagonal protuberances, where adjacent protuberances include a convex hexagon and a concave hexagon that form two straight wide portions therebetween.