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Michelin's newest tire which doesn't require air (AirLess)

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Michelin lets the air out of future tire innovation
Today at the Detroit Auto Show Michelin showcased a potential future for mobility, an integrated tire and wheel combination missing one ingredient that is vital for traditional tire performance... air. The company unveiled the first real-world fitments for its revolutionary ?Tweel? ? which operates entirely without air.

?Major revolutions in mobility may come along only once in a hundred years,? said Terry Gettys, president of Michelin Americas Research and Development Center 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 conventional pneumatic technology.?

Michelin?s Tweel is in production and available as an enhancement for future iBOT? mobility systems. Invented by Dean Kamen, the iBOT? mobility 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 that applies 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. The most intriguing application may be Michelin?s early prototype Tweel fitment for passenger cars. The mobility company released video of promising Tweel performance on an Audi A4.

?The Tweel automotive application, as demonstrated on the Audi, is definitely a concept, a stretch application with strong future potential,? said Gettys. ?Our concentration is to enter 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.?

Benefits of Tweel?:

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 tires. The flexible spokes are fused with a flexible wheel that deforms to absorb shock and rebound with unimaginable ease. Without the air needed by conventional tires, Tweel still delivers pneumatic-like performance in weight-carrying capacity, ride comfort, and the ability to ?envelope? road hazards.

Michelin has also found that it can tune Tweel performances independently of each other, which is a significant change from conventional tires. This means that vertical stiffness (which primarily affects ride comfort) and lateral stiffness (which affects handling and cornering) can both be optimized, pushing the performance envelope in these applications and enabling new performances not possible for current inflated tires. The Tweel prototype, demonstrated on the Audi A4, is within five percent of the rolling resistance and mass levels of current pneumatic tires. That translates to within one percent of the fuel economy of the OE fitment. Additionally, Michelin has increased the lateral stiffness by a factor of five, making the prototype unusually responsive in its handling.

Future of Tweel? Technology:

For Michelin, Tweel is a long-term vision that represents the next step in a long path of industry-changing innovations. Fifty years ago, Michelin invented the radial tire and there is no question that radial tire technology will continue as the standard for a long time to come. Michelin continues to advance the performance of the radial tire in areas such as rolling resistance, wear life and grip. In the short-term, the lessons learned from Tweel research are being applied to improve those conventional tire performances. In the future, Tweel may reinvent the way that vehicles move. Checking tire pressure, fixing flats, highway blow-outs and balancing between traction and comfort could all fade into memory.
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Pics:

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"Michelin has also found that it can tune Tweel performances independently of each other, which is a significant change from conventional tires. This means that vertical stiffness (which primarily affects ride comfort) and lateral stiffness (which affects handling and cornering) can both be optimized"


Very interesting. However if this is to become mainstream we will need some decorative cover to cover the spokes though. The way it looks on the A4 is not quite rught.
 
Very interesting. However if this is to become mainstream we will need some decorative cover to cover the spokes though. The way it looks on the A4 is not quite rught.
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Im sure it is uncovered to show what it looks like. I sure would not buy them unless they get covered, it looks yukky some how :bangin: :lol:
 
Cool!
A sidewall would make it look better, but it would also make if weigh more.
 
They are covered. I saw them at the Paris Auto Show...had them displayed on an SLR. :shock:
 
it looks kinda cool... if you could put a hubcap over it... then your car would look like your running with like 10ZR profile tires :lol:
 
that is what i thought of as wll... if you look at the rims on the Audi... they seem kinda small... like 13" or something
 
well... tires that have a very thin side-wall... normal cars with 15" rims generally have something like 205/60ZR15 on the tires... cars like my RX-7... it is 265/40ZR18... 265 is the width of the tire... 40 means 40% of the width of the tire is the sidewall and ZR rated and 18 means 18" rims. I think series 35-50 is usually considered low-profile. Low profile tires are better for sports cars because there is less movement in the tire when you do hard cornering... but it return... the ride is harder and less comfortable due to shorter side-walls
 
i actually think it's cool they're not covered, if you see a car at high speed with those tires, it must appear to be hoovering.. cool :)
 
Renesis said:
thing is, can you make them low profile?
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I wouldn't think so, but there's no performance need to anyway. They have lateral stiffness. However, low profile tires do look good....
 
If the side would be covered how could you see the new technology ? It's just a way to present this to the public. I'm sure the final product will look like a ordinary tire.
 
i'm sure it can be made low profile. the supports inside just have to be harder and more will jsut need to be placed inside to make up the loss of the length of a normal one
 
interesting for sure..... I'm wondering if Pirelli has something similar in the works.
hehe and yeah they look ugly, but I'm thinking you can use the space between the spokes for LEDs :D
the tyres are not even out and I'm thinking of ways to rice it :lol:
 
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