The Detroit Motor Show held in January 2005 saw the presentation of a revolutionary concept development, but it was not a car. The Tweel is a prototype tire developed by Michelin. Its design criteria are totally innovative.
Recognized worldwide for manufacturing tires for cars, motorcycles, tractors, trucks, aircraft and even ships for NASA, Michelin is the world's largest tire manufacturer. And like any leading company, it not only manufactures but also researches and develops its products.
On this occasion they presented an ongoing development, which they gave the character of a product in the pre-sale stage in the medium or long term future (there are different versions). They searched for a friendly and easy-to-remember name so that it would not be taken as “just another experiment.” The name Tweel comes from the combination of “tire & wheel”.
It consists of elastic plastic strapping attached to a flexible ring that supports a rubber band, practically the same as those of today's tires. Its strapping structure makes the wheel hollow and does not require inflation, leaving in the past punctures or tasks such as checking air pressure. This structure gives it a very interesting property: it suffers much less deformation than the wheels currently in force.
In high speed curves the safety is increased by this stiffness, however it is elastic enough to absorb road irregularities and enjoy a much more comfortable ride.
It is clear that such a wheel would be ideal because of its low maintenance level, the only thing required would be to change (or retread) the tread when mileage is worn. Michelin engineers said that the preliminary tests carried out with an Audi A4 were very encouraging to continue this project.
Fifty years ago Michelin invented the radial tire, which is still a standard in the world industry and will remain so for many more years. Its evolution continues, and even the development of the Tweel provides important data for this task of optimizing radial tires.
Terry Gettys, president of the Michelin Americas Research and Development Center in the USA, explains that the application of Tweel in the automotive industry is part of a long-term project.
They will first draw on information obtained from studies to be carried out on military vehicles and special devices such as the iBot and the Segway designed by the famous American inventor Dean Kamen. The iBot fulfils the basic task of a wheelchair plus other possibilities such as climbing stairs and crossing very uneven terrain. The Segway is a personal two-wheeled mini-platform commanded by a central control stick.
Terry Gettys added that “our goal is to address the market for low weight and speed devices, so that we can transform that success into expansion to other markets such as passenger transport.”
© Adrián Blanco 2005 — Prohibited the total or partial reproduction of text and/or images without explicit written consent of the author. —