Abstract: A self-inflating tire assembly includes an air tube mounted within a tire sidewall groove. The air tube is in contacting engagement with opposite angled groove surfaces surrounding the air tube. A segment of the air tube is flattened from an expanded diameter to a flat diameter by bending and compression of the groove in a rolling tire footprint to force air evacuated from the flattened segment along a tube air passageway. The sidewall groove extends into an annular, axially extending, sidewall surface such as an axially oriented surface of a tire chafer protrusion located in non-contacting relationship with the rim.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
December 21, 2009
Date of Patent:
October 25, 2011
Assignee:
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
Inventors:
Robert Allen Losey, Robert Leon Benedict
Inventors:
Sebastien Willy Fontaine, Maurice Graas, Jean-Francois Vandeclee, Michel Jean Yves Windeshausen, Pascal Patrick Steiner, Thierry Botman, Stephane Jose Geelen, Percy Anthony Lemaire, Michel Pierre Charles Robert