PIRELLI TYRE S.p.A.

A mould ( 1; 100 ) for vulcanising tyres for vehicle wheels, comprising: at least one sidewall plate ( 3 ) on which a moulding surface ( 4 ) is defined, a removable insert ( 10 ) arranged to be received in a seat ( 5 ) which is made in said sidewall plate and open on said moulding surface, said insert comprising a main body ( 11; 111 ) on which a base surface ( 12 ) is defined which is intended for contacting a portion of a sidewall ( 52 ) of the green tyre, and a retaining member ( 20 ) for retaining said insert ( 10 ) inside said seat ( 5 ). The retaining member ( 20 ) comprises at least one locking element which is mounted on one out of said insert ( 10 ) and said sidewall plate ( 3 ) and can be moved in an operating direction (Y), which is incident with respect to an insertion direction (X) of said insert into said seat, between a locking position, in which said insert is retained inside said seat, and a release position, in which said insert is free to leave said seat ( 21; 121 ).

A tyre for vehicle wheels includes a tread band having a first annular portion delimited by two circumferential channels. The first annular portion includes two annular grooves extending along respective zig-zag paths. Each of the two annular grooves is defined by a plurality of first parts inclined on one side with respect to a reference plane orthogonal to an equatorial plane of the tyre and by a plurality of second parts inclined with respect to the reference plane on the opposite side to the first parts. Each of the second parts is circumferentially interposed between two respective first parts. Each of the first parts is connected to a respective circumferential channel by a respective first transversal groove arranged at an intermediate portion of the first part and by a respective second transversal groove arranged at an end of the first part.

After a support structure ( 12 ) has been circumferentially positioned around an annular component ( 11 ) of a tyre ( 2 ), gripping elements ( 16 ) carried by the support structure ( 12 ) and circumferentially distributed around a central axis (X) are radially approached to the annular component ( 11 ) bringing into contact therewith a plurality of feeler pins ( 22 ), slidably carried by each of said gripping elements ( 16 ). Once contact is made, the radially approaching of the gripping elements ( 16 ) to the annular component ( 11 ) continues by sliding the gripping elements themselves along the feeler pins ( 22 ). All the feeler pins ( 22 ) can therefore come into contact with the annular component ( 11 ), copying the shape of the outer surface. The feeler pins ( 22 ) are then locked with respect to the gripping elements ( 16 ) in order to allow the removal of a support drum ( 10 ) from the annular component ( 11 ) and support the latter in the absence of normal stresses.

A mould for vulcanising tyres for vehicle wheels, comprising at least one sidewall plate on which a moulding surface is defined, a removable insert arranged to be received in a seat which is made in the sidewall plate and open on the moulding surface, the insert comprising a main body on which a base surface is defined which is intended for contacting a portion of a sidewall of the green tyre, and a retaining member for retaining the insert inside the seat, wherein the retaining member comprises at least one locking element can be moved in an operating direction between a locking position and a release position.

A vehicle tyre with an asymmetric internal structure and external profile relative to its middle line plane. When mounted on a rim and installed with a camber angle, the rotating tyre generates lateral forces during straight-line running: a camber force from the wheel's inclination, a structural force from the asymmetric internal construction, and a conicity force from the asymmetric external profile. The conicity force opposes the camber force direction, and its magnitude remains below the structural force magnitude. This configuration enables control of the resulting lateral force while reducing rolling resistance during straight-line operation.

A method for arranging elongated elements in a process for building tyres for vehicle wheels, including: simultaneously winding a first elongated element and a second elongated element respectively on a first winding support in a first axial position and on a second winding support in a first axial position; simultaneously winding a third elongated element and a fourth elongated element respectively on the first winding support in a second axial position different from the first axial position and on the second winding support in a second axial position different from the first axial position, in which the elongated elements of the second type are the same as each other and different from the elongated elements of the first type.

An “all season” tyre ( 1 ) for cars and/or light transport vehicles is described, having a tread band ( 8 ) provided with a plurality of longitudinal channels and a plurality of grooves ( 6 , 7 , 11,12, 13 ) and sipes ( 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ) having a substantially transverse course, regularly arranged in the central ribs formed by the longitudinal channels and in the shoulder regions (L 2 , L 3 ) over the whole tread band ( 8 ). The tread band ( 8 ) also has transverse notches resulting from joining a groove and a sipe having a transverse course, arranged consecutively to each other, and seamlessly extending substantially over the whole portion of the tyre containing them, i.e., the shoulder regions (L 2 , L 3 ) or some of the central ribs ( 9 , 10 ).

A method for arranging elongated elements to be used in a process for building tyres for vehicle wheels, including: winding in parallel a first elongated element and a second elongated element of a first type respectively on a first winding support and a second winding support coupled and rotatable about a first rotation axis; winding in parallel a third elongated element and a fourth elongated element of a second type respectively on a third winding support and a fourth winding support coupled and rotatable about a second rotation axis, where the elongated elements of the second type are different from the elongated elements of the first type; decoupling the second winding support from the first winding support and the fourth winding support from the third winding support; and coupling the second winding support with the third winding support and the fourth winding support with the first winding support.

A method and system for checking a process for building a tyre including sequential deposition of an ordered plurality of N semi-finished elements on a drum. The method includes: establishing an ordered plurality of N classes of drum states, wherein a first class corresponds to a bare drum state and an i-th class corresponds to a drum state including the i-1th semi-finished element deposited in radially outermost position; before the deposition of the i-th semi-finished element: processing an acquired image of a drum state to associate to the current drum state a current class among the ordered plurality of N classes of drum states; authorising the deposition of the i-th semi-finished element based on a comparison between the current class and the expected class.

The present invention relates to a self-sealing tyre for vehicle wheels comprising at least one carcass ply ( 3 ), a tread band ( 7 ) applied in a radially external position with respect to said carcass ply in a crown portion, at least one liner ( 9 ) applied in a radially internal position with respect to said carcass ply, a sealing assembly ( 10, 11 ) applied in a radially internal position with respect to said liner and axially extending at least at a part of the crown portion; wherein said sealing assembly comprises a permanent self-supporting elastomeric layer ( 11 ) having an elongation modulus at 10% lower than 0.8 MPa, said self-supporting elastomeric layer being obtained by vulcanisation of an elastomeric compound having a Mooney ML(1+4) viscosity lower than 30, and a layer of sealing material ( 10 ) associated with and supported by said permanent self-supporting elastomeric layer; wherein said self-supporting elastomeric layer is radially internal to the layer of sealing material and said layer of sealing material is placed substantially in contact with said liner.