Goodyear R&D
Inspirations behind the Design of DuraPlus
Innovation, the continuous flow of creative new ideas, products and materials, has been at the core of Goodyear's activities for more than 100 years. When Goodyear set out to innovate for Asia’s smaller passenger vehicles in the value segment, an R&D team of engineers, physicists, chemical experts and tire evaluation specialists worked to design a tire that satisfies consumers needs.
Bringing the R&D process to life, Goodyear engineer Micah Irwin talks about the design behind the new Goodyear DuraPlus tire with TredLife TechnologyTM.
- The average motorist is unaware of the level of engineering sophistication that goes into tire designs. What are the key considerations that an engineer asks when designing the “ideal” tire?
When designing the “ideal” tire, the tire designer has to consider several factors. First the consumer needs and usage characteristics such as whether the consumer wants a sporty performance, a luxury ride or efficient everyday journeys. Secondly, what environmental and driving conditions the tire will travel in meaning wet or dry weather, bumpy roads or extreme temperatures. Thirdly, we need to consider how to provide the best mix of tire technology to maximize the value in each price segment, all whilst never compromising on the safety and performance attributes that are core to the Goodyear brand.
- How is DuraPlus designed to achieve longer lasting treads?
Having great tread wear performance means having as much wearable rubber as possible on the tire. From a design perspective, the DuraPlus tread should not have a lot of fancy grooves running through it which would reduce the wearable rubber. At the same time, we didn’t want to take this idea too far as to compromise on other performances. For example, the grooves in DuraPlus still had to be large enough to evacuate enough water to provide good aquaplaning performance. TredLife TechnologyTM balances performance aspects and offers a combination of structural and tread design features as well as new compound blends that work to deliver longer lasting treads. These innovations include:
- A new generation wide face cavity: leads to an increased footprint and more wearable rubber in contact with the road.
- Maximized rubber volume: also enables larger tire contact with the road, and a higher land to sea ratio tread depth allows for more wearable rubber.
- Advanced carbon-based tread compound: so the tire has a higher resistance to frictional wear, further contributing to the tire’s long tread life and increased mileage.
- When designing a tire like DuraPlus, what is the lead time and the R&D process?
It took over 1 year and involved an R&D team of more than 100 engineers, physicists, chemical experts and tire evaluation specialists to develop DuraPlus. As mentioned, the innovation process starts with an analysis of customer needs. Then, once we've identified what kind of tire we'd like to create, we design a series of options that are simulated and evaluated individually. The best candidate is chosen for development as a prototype tire, which is produced for further evaluation. The prototype tire then goes through a vigorous array of tests to determine if it meets the requirements. If it does, it is released for mass production.
- Your R&D process is recognized as one of the best. What makes it so compelling and globally competitive?
The process responsible for creating DuraPlus is really remarkable. There are three main areas in our R&D process which is well recognized for its leadership:
- Faster, more accurate simulation methods: using leading edge simulation technology that is co-developed with other companies like Sandia Labs in North American and Dassault Systems in Europe, we are able to simulate many different design concepts with high accuracy in a short period of time. This allows Goodyear to be more competitive as we are able to respond to the changing needs of consumers in a shorter period of time.
- R&D teams which pioneer the development of new materials and chemicals: Discoveries in new materials or chemicals make it possible for us to innovate on the mechanical design of a tire.
- The creation and execution of testing methods to validate the performance of the product. This area makes sure that we can test the product in the same conditions that the tire will see where it is being sold.
These three areas working together give the development team the confidence that we can bring a winning product to the market.
- How far has tire technology and design come since the first passenger value tire was launched?
Goodyear has been a leading innovator of tire technology for over 100 years. We produced the tires for the first mass-produced passenger car. By using more accurate predictive tools and advances in materials over the years, we've been able to bring many innovations to the market that have made our products increasingly safe and reliable. Many of these innovations have contributed to shorter braking distances and tread life that is better than ever before.
- What are some next generation concepts you are testing for future passenger value tires?
Based on the research that Goodyear has done, consumers will continue to be interested in getting more value for money. In addition to longer tread life, fuel efficiency is another way of delivering value and so we are focusing on this. Of course fuel efficiency brings greater value to consumers, but also brings environmental benefits which are playing an increasingly important role in consumer decision making. We are working on several concepts that respond to these needs.
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