I can't help but think the ride will always be as harsh as a stagecoach (the real thing, not the coaches!)
www.nytimes.com/2005/01/03/automobiles/03cars.html...h
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 09/06/2008 at 13:48
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Sorry, not I.
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Whats all that about...Not joining tho
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Steve
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Sorry, stupid oversight on my part. I forgot about the registration requirement. The article is about Michelin's plans for an air-less tire. Here is an extract:
'The tiremaker has high expectations for the Tweel project. The concept of a single-piece tire and wheel assembly is one the company expects to spread to passenger cars and, eventually, to construction equipment and aircraft.
The Tweel offers a number of benefits beyond the obvious attraction of being impervious to nails in the road. The tread will last two to three times as long as today's radial tires, Michelin says, and when it does wear thin it can be retreaded.
For manufacturers, the Tweel offers an opportunity to reduce the number of parts, eliminating most of the 23 components of a typical new tire.'
Even if noise and ride problems could be ironed out, it still seems like a costly option for consumers. Retread? How much will that be?
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Michelin says, and when it does wear thin it can be retreaded.
Well, that's a comfort then. I think the retread industry has a way to go before motorists are comfortable with retreads.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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Tweel - Non-Pneumatic Technology from Michelin
At the recent North American International Auto Show ( NAIAS) Michelin showcased one of their latest innovations, an integrated tyre and wheel combination that does not use air, making it impossible to go flat.
The new product, which is being marketed by Michelin under the brand name "Tweel" is being used in a variety of specialist applications. For example, the Tweel has been made available as an enhancement for future iBOT mobility systems.
Invented by Dean Kamen, the iBOT device has the ability to climb stairs and navigate uneven terrain, offering mobility freedom impossible with traditional wheelchairs. Additionally, Segway LLC's Concept Centaur, a prototype self-balancing technology to a four-wheel device, has also been equipped with Tweel to increase its performance potential. Beyond these first real-world applications, Michelin has additional projects for Tweel on construction skidsteers and a variety of military vehicles.
" Major revolutions in mobility may come along only once in hundred years, "said Terry Gettys, president of Michelin Americas Research and Development Centre in Greenville, S.C. " But, a new century has dawned and Tweel has proven its potential to transform mobility. Tweel enables us to reach levels of performance that quite simply aren't possible with today's convention pneumatic technology."
The most intriguing application may be Michelin's early prototype fitment for passenger cars and with this in mind the company has released a video of promising wheel performance on an Audi A4. " The Tweel's automotive application, as demonstrated on the Audi, is definitely a concept with strong future potential,"said Gettys. " Our focus is on entering the market with lower speed, lower -weight Tweel applications. What we learn from our early successes will be applied to Tweel fitments for passenger cars and beyond."
The heart of Tweel innovation is its deceptively simple looking hub and spoke design that replaces the need for air pressure while delivering performance previously only available from pneumatic tyres. The flexible spokes are fused with a flexible wheel that deforms to absorb shocks and rebounds with ease. Without the air needed by convention tyres, Tweel still delivers pneumatic performance in weight-carrying capacity, ride comfort and the ability of being impervious to nails on the road.
Tweel performance can be tuned independently of each other, which is a significant change from conventional tyres. This means that vertical stiffness ( which primarily affects ride comfort ) and lateral stiffness ( which affects handling and cornering) can both be optimized, enabling new performance levels not possible for with normal pneumatic tyres.
The Tweel prototype, demonstrated on the Audi 4, is within 5% of the rolling resistance and mass levels of current pneumatic tyres. That translates to within 1% of the fuel economy of the OE fitment. Additionally, Michelin has increased the lateral stiffness by factor of five, making the prototype unusually responsive in its handling. The tread will last two to three times as long as today's radial tyres, Michelin say, and when it does wear thin, it can be retreaded.
Two other new technologies were introduced by Michelin in Detroit. Michelin Airless is a different non-pneumatic technology, which enables vehicles to run safely and comfortably because its elastic characteristics are controlled longitudinally, transversally and vertically. A car doesn't have to stop even if one or more of the radial bands break or are damaged. The Michelin Airless is being tested on passenger cars and motorcycles, but could be fitted to other vehicles as well.
www.tyres-online.co.uk/products.asp#1
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The name gives away the fact that t'weels are the triumphant invention of a Yorkshireman, who will now be able to save 20p a fortnight by not having to use the airline at the filling station.
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The name gives away the fact that t'weels are the triumphant invention of a Yorkshireman, who will now be able to save 20p a fortnight by not having to use the airline at the filling station.
Yorkshire air is free pal, t'garages round 'ere dun't charge fer it.;-)
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Funny, but I (and no doubt many others) imagined the idea of a one-piece airless tyre / wheel combination ages ago. Not that I did anything about it, I don't have the technical expertise! I also envisaged using a material whose properties could vary throughout the structure - rigid centre, flexible edge. Science fiction, of course! Or is it?
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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I have heard of so many wonderful tyre inventions over the last 30 years. in the seventies it was the dunlop denovo (option on the princess and mini). in the eighties everyone was going to be shod with polyurethane , or twin wheels. In the nineties it was the td bead system ( metro, montego, some Jags and early Beemer 5`s). Then Michelin developed the Pax system (really weird and heavy), So maybe the tweel will go the same way. The US is always interested in these sort of things because of the vast distances between towns and cities. Also with the advent of the runflat which all the majors are heavily investing in I cannot see it being a starter in the medium term except maybe fork lifts and pallet trucks.( new bmw 1 series totally on runflats as OE )
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This sounds like a great advance in wheel technology that will probably be readily accepted in years to come provided the driver can be shown a cost and use benefit.
I have seen a major drawback. What will the Police do with their stingers as they will be rendered useless? How will excessively speeding cars be brought to a safe stop? May be there is some new technology being developed to replace the stinger.
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>>>>What will the Police do with their stingers as they will be rendered useless? How will excessively speeding cars be brought to a safe stop? May be there is some new technology being developed to replace the stinger.<<<<
It already exists - the LAWs rocket. A one-shot, disposable bazooka. Ideal!
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Any chance of them applying this principle to bicycle tyres?
Thank heaven our 4 children are now grown up and we have got beyond the bike-with-puncture stage. The Moulton bikes had a form of suspension which would have coped with solid tyres.
Tyres apart, the child's Raleigh bike was (may still be?) an amazingly unreliable machine. When the children were growing up we had a series of big family Renaults that hardly ever went wrong, and certainly never let us down - yet there alwsya seems to be a bike with something wrong with it. Let's hope they have improved, or else there are other better brands around for today's children.
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Hi, It has been done already. There is a company in Bedfordsire that fills tyres with a liquid rubber compound that sets. At present it is only used on off road plant machinery. The whole idea is to stop punctures and vehicle down time.
I can see another problem though, unsprung weight needs to be kept to a minimum otherwise the springs and shock absorbers will not be able to cope. Funny I seem to remember working on a 1910 Hispano Suiza which had solid tyres.... (And NO I'm not that old)!!!!!
Clive.
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T'weels on t'bus go round and round.......!
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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New idea? I remember photos of similar ideas used in the Great War for munition haulage vehicles (radial coil springs with solid rubber tyres).
T'weel just appears to be a normal tyre that someone has attacked with a fret saw (in principle, I'm not totally barking).
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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But will it be 'allowed' into the marketplace? It'd put an awful lot of people out of business if it became the norm.
Consider this: the tyre supply/fitting industry is pretty big. The average motorist spends perhaps £200 on four new rubber rings every two years (some more, some less, I've tried to estimate an average). Are those that make their living from this custom going to let it go quietly?
Perhaps a similar situation to the lightbulb business. Everyone knows that modern technology would allow manufacture of lightbulbs that last many, many times longer than they do now. But of course such custom-reducing developments are suppressed by the people who manufacture and distribute light bulbs.
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Being retired I have lot's of time for internet browsing, and Popular Science (Google books) is one of my favourite bookmarks. It's an amazing source of information.
Anyone who cares to check the May 1938 issue will find the original 'Tweel' . It looks just as modern as the 2010 Michelin version, and is described in pretty much the same way.
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