Military Airless Tires - The combination of strong wedges and a taut band replaces the traditional tire. However, unlike the tires we know, you can't alter the feel of the ride by adjusting the air pressure. Since there is no air, your only choice is to purchase another tweel with more give in the polyurethane spokes.
If the tire companies can just give us a virtually indestructible, safe, affordable, and comfortable alternative, we would all be clamoring to buy them. Find a way to use only recycled and sustainably sourced materials, and they are almost there.
Military Airless Tires
Neatorama is the neat side of the Web. We bring you the neatest, weirdest, and most wonderful stuff from all over the Web every day. Come back often, mmkay? From the 2019 test, and input from several other involved stakeholders, the industry partner conducted an engineering analysis and is redesigning the tires to better accommodate traction, payloads, handling characteristics, and operational limits specific to the Army's needs.
Will We Ever Get A Viable Airless Tire?
With traditional tires aired to the correct PSI, the surface area is reduced, resulting in a smoother, quieter ride. Airless tires have inadequate suspension for an enjoyable road trip, sacrificing smoothness and sound buffering abilities, resulting in a less comfortable and much noisier ride.
But this came as no surprise to Nathan Kamprath, Special Systems and Components Tire Engineer with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC), who says the Army has been looking into the benefits of airless tires for many years and the advantages are numerous.
Produce them cleanly, and the tire company has a winner on all counts. With all the researchers working on it, it shouldn't be too much to ask. Until they can do that, they just aren't a good idea.
Technology has provided advances in design and manufacturing in the last few years that most would never have imagined. While off-roaders and adventurers alike are desperate for airless tires for trucks, it may still be a while.
Michelin touts the benefits of the Uptis as needing no maintenance. In fact, they advertise that the Michelin airless tires won't even have to be rotated. Since they don't go flat, you can get rid of that spare tire and reclaim your trunk space, as well.
Not only are they not a new concept, but Michelin has been working on them since the 1800s. In 1889, a cyclist approached the Michelin brothers André and Édouard to see if they could find a better alternative to the tires that were easily flattened on the poor roads.
"The number one reason to use the airless tire technology is puncture survivability," Kamprath says. “Unlike pneumatic tires, the airless tires can keep going potentially for hundreds of miles when compromised. Also, the unit wouldn't have to carry spare tires into expeditions and the airless tires can withstand severe and unique environmental conditions.
Consequently, these tires can help keep our Soldiers out of harm's way, and for that, they're a real game changer.” The center of the tweel is solid and mounts to the vehicle's axle like a traditional wheel.
Wedges of polyurethane wrap around the hub on the inner part, and have a band with tread around the outside. If you've ever cut the lawn on riding a lawnmower, ridden in a golf cart, driven a military vehicle, or operated heavy equipment like a forklift, you have likely experienced the bumpy ride of airless tires.
There are even non-pneumatic tires for bicycles. The use of sustainable materials and the reduced CO2 emissions make the Michelin airless tires attractive. If they are truly low maintenance, that reduces their carbon footprint, as well.
It sounds like there is a lot to like about these new Uptis tires. Wouldn't it be nice never to have to worry about getting a flat and being stuck on the side of a busy road in the Phoenix, AZ metro area again?
Even if you have roadside assistance, no one feels safe waiting for help to arrive while traffic whizzes by at 80 miles per hour. It seems like there should be an answer. Wouldn't it be great if we could have airless tires for cars?
Well, airless tires for trucks and cars do exist, but they are not the ideal solution you would expect. You might think that the tire with nothing but artificial rubber spokes would be lighter than a traditional tire.
You would be wrong. They actually use compressed plastics and rubber tread to give the tire functionality, which in turn makes it heavy. Why is that important? Heavy tires equal less fuel economy. "With the advent of autonomous vehicles, there will be no driver to change a flat tire," says John Duty, Senior Product Development Engineer with Michelin Tweel Technologies.
"The airless tire may be the solution of the future." Now Michelin has the next-gen version in the works called the Uptis. This name is an acronym for Unique Puncture-proof Tire System. Engineering issues have prevented the widespread use of tweels for cars, so presumably, this new Uptis has improved upon the prototypes.
Chevrolet worked with Michelin and started testing the Uptis on Chevrolet Bolt EVs in 2019. This is without ever seeing their earlier prototype make it to the mass market. In 2005, Michelin introduced the world to the tweel.
As you might have guessed, it was named for the design, a combination tire, and the wheel. Are you noticing a recurring trend with Michelin and airless tires? Édouard, an engineer, received a patent for a detachable-pneumatic tire in 1891. In 1895, the Michelin brothers mounted their airless tires on a vehicle for the Paris-Bordeaux-Paris race.
The blow of the last-place finish was softened by the sudden interest in the new tires. In 2019 a U.S. The Army team took an airless tire on a trip to the Amazon rainforest to test the technology on the Army's Light Tactical All-Terrain Vehicles (LTATV) to see how it would hold up in extreme conditions.
While sleeping in an austere CONEX encampment (aka “Resort”) and trying to avoid the myriad of hazardous flora and fauna, the team was surprised by how well the airless tire held up to the challenge. The advertised lack of maintenance combined with no need for a spare would tend to indicate an almost indestructible tire.
However, that is far from true. The spokes that create the main structure of the Michelin airless tires can be cut or torn, and the resulting damage can render them unusable. It would be nice to think that, in just a few short years, we could have a better tire.
While the prospective qualities sound positive, when compared to pneumatic tires, it still seems that the pros are far outweighed by the cons: Check out NeatoShop's large selection of T-shirts Science T-Shirts | Sci-Fi T-Shirts |
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Other Carry-over military parts included on the MV850 are a single-speed automatic transmission and heavy-duty steel exoskeleton frame. For instance, it is recommended to reduce the PSI for driving in icy conditions to increase the tread's grip on the road.
With airless tires, there is no way to adapt to changing weather conditions or road surfaces. In the second phase of the initiative, tire prototypes are being developed to undergo preliminary testing at Michelin's lab facilities and proving grounds using new materials and designs based on the initial testing and engineering analysis results.
In 2022, the developed, improved airless tires are scheduled to be mounted on a new LTATV Special Forces vehicle model and will make the trip back to the U.S. Army Tropic Regions Test Center (TRTC) in Suriname for further evaluation by a seasoned team from TRTC (TRAX International Corp), GVSC, and Michelin.
Airless tire technology has been around in some form since 1999 and has become popular with lawn service equipment, recreational vehicles, light construction equipment, and commercial-industrial vehicles that operate in rugged conditions where pneumatic tires are susceptible to flats.
The airless tire replaces the current pneumatic tire and wheel assembly and is easily bolted on to existing hubs without the need for unique mounting. There is no air pressure to maintain due to the patented poly-resin spoke technology.
Before you rush off to your local Polaris dealer, there are few things to worry about. Polaris was kind enough to let us know that you can pick up yours WV850 starting next month, but neglected to provide a price.
I fear this may be one of those "if you have to ask" scenarios. We also have no idea what kind of speeds these new tires can withstand or how many miles before that tread wears too thin to be useful.
There is a lot of promise here for a certain user, but that may not be you. Polaris blew our minds earlier this year when they announced the MV850 ATV, a military ATV that was essentially bullet-proof and featured airless tires that couldn't go flat.
Now they are releasing a civilian model complete with Terrain Armor Non-Pneumatic Tires, dubbed the Sportsman WV850 H.O. Shirts available in sizes S to 10XL: 6XL T-Shirts | 7XL T-Shirts | 8XL T-Shirts9XL T-Shirts | 10XL T-Shirts
Big & Tall and Curvy Tees are our specialties! Customization and personalization available. The Army sees a lot of potential with this technology for other vehicles, such as the HMMWV, Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV), and future autonomous vehicles at later stages.
The results of this initiative may also contribute to airless tires being adopted by the commercial sector.
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