Photo: Goodyear
Tires rolling at a smaller pressure - they will drain you fuel tank quicker, because of the hysteresis effect they generate when deforming, sucking up more power to roll. Goodyear promises to automatically solve this problem soon. You don’t even need to move a finger...
We currently have onboard tire pressure monitors as a countermeasure, but you still have to physically inflate the tires using a manual pump or a compressor. Some drivers could be a bit lazy to do that and in case of a huge fleet, the company will lose money both on the extra fuel burnt and on premature tire wear.
Not after tire company Goodyear will provide us with their new self-inflating tires. It’s called Air Maintenance Technology and uses a peristaltic pump to automatically keep the tire’s pressure at the right parameters.
Sounds complicated, but in fact the system is very easy to understand and the only high-tech components required for it to work in this case are two valves and an internal regulator. The latter constantly reads the pressure and in case it drops, it will allow air to flow into the pumping tube, which is a thin torus (donut) mounted between the tire and the rim in a special cavity.
From here, the tire roll will gradually deform the tube, compressing air and pushing it through another valve into the tire itself. When the right pressure is reached, the regulator tells the first valve to close and that’s it. Easy peasy.
As for you, zero fleet owner, the Air Maintenance Technology will simply spare you from keeping an eye on tires pressure and periodically inflate them. It will spare you some cash too, but don’t think it’s going to save you more than 200 bucks per year.
Not after tire company Goodyear will provide us with their new self-inflating tires. It’s called Air Maintenance Technology and uses a peristaltic pump to automatically keep the tire’s pressure at the right parameters.
Peristal... what?
A peristaltic pump is a displacement pump where fluid is contained within a flexible tube fitted inside a circular pump casing. A rotor containing rollers, shoes or wipers compresses the flexible tube as it's turning, forcing the fluid to be moved through the tube.Sounds complicated, but in fact the system is very easy to understand and the only high-tech components required for it to work in this case are two valves and an internal regulator. The latter constantly reads the pressure and in case it drops, it will allow air to flow into the pumping tube, which is a thin torus (donut) mounted between the tire and the rim in a special cavity.
From here, the tire roll will gradually deform the tube, compressing air and pushing it through another valve into the tire itself. When the right pressure is reached, the regulator tells the first valve to close and that’s it. Easy peasy.
The project
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is working on the self-inflating tires for quite a while. But it is only now that the company has actually started an 18-month period test phase with US and Canada-based trucking fleets to see if it works properly and saves money.As for you, zero fleet owner, the Air Maintenance Technology will simply spare you from keeping an eye on tires pressure and periodically inflate them. It will spare you some cash too, but don’t think it’s going to save you more than 200 bucks per year.
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