While originally developed for the military, this honeycomb tire could be the future, in that you would never need to have a spare. Yeah, they would have to put some sort of 'skin' on the sidewalls so that the honeycombs don't clog up with mud or snow--a huge issue if you go off-roading. Also wind noise and aero-efficiency are likely to be problems with such a tire as it currently is shown.
This tire was developed because the military wants an alternative to the current Humvee "run flat" tires. The current run-flats, despite the name, still need some air pressure, and can blown out via gun fire.
"You see reports all the time of troops who were injured by an IED or their convoys got stranded because their tires were shot out," said Resilient's General Manager Mike Veih. "There's all sorts of armor on the vehicle, but if you're running in the theater and get your tire shot out, what have you got? You've got a bunch of armor in the middle of a field."
The tire was developed by Resilient Technologies and Wisconsin-Madison's Polymer Engineering Center. They studied other airless tires, like the Michelin "Tweel," but in the end settled on this design. The patent-pending design mimics the precise, six-sided cell pattern found in a honeycomb and best duplicates the "ride feel" of pneumatic tires, according to the developers.
"The goal was to reduce the variation in the stiffness of the tire, to make it transmit loads uniformly and become more homogenous," said mechanical engineering professor Tim Osswald. "And the best design, as nature gives it to us, is really the honeycomb."
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This is encouraging. I really really enjoy seeing advancements like this being made. The real excitement from this post is wondering just whether it will make it into road cars. The inflated-with-air wheel concept has really been the only option for too long. Can you imagine tires like this being engineered for racing purposes? (i.e. cornering, top speed, and the like?)
good post.
And as soon as any mud, dirt, snow, or rocks get caught inside the honeycomb, the balance of that tire will be thrown off and you will get horrific vibrations at anything over 15 mph.
Great design. Looks like it could absorb a great deal of shock.
kcram, if you read the FULL ARTICLE, you see that this is just a for display prototype to see the form, the actual wheels would have a cover of some sort over the pattern.
Hmm, dirt bike racers (think Dakar) use moose inner tubes which are basically foam rings that fill the void within regular tyres so they do not have to deal with punctures.
Seems like they are reinventing the wheel...
The downside is you can't air them down for a better contact patch off road.
Pretty nifty.