Products On Show
Indoor tire-wear testing on real road surfaces
Kokusai
Tire-wear testing is essential for tire and vehicle manufacturers, not least since tire wear can contribute to emissions, with particulate matter emitted by tire wear being recognized as a problem from environmental and health hazard perspectives.
However, outdoor tire-wear testing on public roads is time-consuming and costly. In addition, tire wear is generally affected by the driver, driving route, traffic volume, road pavement and weather conditions.
To reduce these external effects and perform quantitative tire-wear testing, Kokusai has developed an indoor testing machine that incorporates the following three innovations.
First, the test drum with ‘real road surface’ reproduces the most realistic and time-efficient tire wear process. The road segments on the drum are easy to service and can be exchanged or assembled depending on the required target surface.
Second, the patented Torque on Demand drive and brake control concept offers the highest reproducibility of wear-relevant load cases.
Finally, the software allows test engineers to optimize outdoor travel profiles regarding wear characteristics and machine controllability. Thus, driving profiles can be adapted to different vehicle/chassis specifications.
The machine provides a benchmark in terms of reproducibility of load cases, offering a significant reduction in testing time and maximum energy efficiency due to the optimized load profiles in test mode.
Booth: 2010