Participants
and speakers discussed the benefits of airless tyres. It may be recalled that
in 2019 tyre major Michelin and General Motors had presented a new generation
of airless wheel technology, the Michelin Uptis Prototype (or “Unique
Puncture-proof Tire System”), at the Movin’On Summit for sustainable mobility.
GM intends to develop this airless wheel assembly with Michelin and aims to introduce
it on passenger vehicles as early as 2024.
Airless
technology makes the Uptis Prototype eliminate flats and blowouts. This means
Uptis offers significant potential for reducing the use of raw materials and
waste, contributing to GM’s vision for a world with zero crashes, zero
emissions and zero congestion as it:
Airless
tyres reduce the number of punctured or damaged tyres that are scrapped before
reaching the end of their life cycle. It reduces the use of raw materials,
energy for production and emissions linked to the manufacture of spare tyres
and replacement tyres that are no longer required. These also last longer by
eliminating irregular wear and tear caused by over- or under-inflation. It also
reduces dangers related to flats and blowouts.
Experts
at the ICAT event debated whether these revolutionary airless tyres will be
tyres of the future as these have proven benefits like being eco-friendly, less
complicated during production, requires no groove pattern, possibility for more
space for brake, less rolling noise, rolling resistance, no puncture risk,
control on irregular tyre wear, in case of wear, only tread pattern to be
changed and it will improve new vehicle design making it more sporty.
This
international symposium (Webinar) was inaugurated in the august presence of
Jayanta Roy Chowdhary, DDG (Standardization –P&M) Bureau of Indian
Standards (BIS), Saurabh Diddi, Director Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Dr.
Arun Jaura, Managing Director –Michelin India Technical Centre, Tom K Thomas,
Executive Director, Ceat Ltd., Dinesh Tyagi, Director, ICAT and Sunil Kumar
Kalia, Chief Business Officer, ICAT.
In
his address, Chowdhary stressed upon the requirement of fuel efficient and safer
tyres for upcoming vehicles having lots of advancements. Saurabh Diddi informed
about Star rating programme for energy efficient tyres. Tyre Star rating will
play key role to cut down the CO2 footprint and significant fuel expense
tariff. It will also be helpful to end
users in selection of replacement tyres.
Dinesh
Tyagi of ICAT emphasised on future tyre
technology like airless tyres etc., Road Safety and upcoming regulations on
TPMS. Tyagi has informed that ICAT has complete test facilities for testing of
tyres as per AIS:142.
S.
K. Kalia (CBO-Centre2, ICAT) highlighted that ICAT’s tyre test facilities are
glaring example of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” as the same are indigenously designed
& developed having all technical accreditations from NABL (ISO:17025) and approval
of BIS. Kalia declared that ICAT is equipped with advanced test facilities like
Rolling Resistance & Wet Grip which are required for STAR Rating testing of
tyres as per BEE notification. Apart from these facilities, ICAT has facilities
for Rolling Sound Emission, NVH testing for tyres (indoor), ISO tracks etc. to
cater the needs of tyre manufacturers.
In
the opening technical session Dr. R.Mukhopadhyay, Director& Chief Executive
of HASETRI and Director (R&D) of JK Tyre & Industries Ltd. highlighted
on future direction of R&D in tyre Industry with specific reference to automobile
industry’s needs. The event proceedings continued with technical papers and
panel discussions representing experts from India, Sweden, and Oman imparting
their knowledge and experience on global regulation and Trending tyre technology.
On
2nd day of this symposium, apart from technical lectures, experts deliberated
on “New Policies of Tyre Trade under the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat”. The two
days event was attended by eminent speakers and delegates from Transport
Department, Tyre Industry, OEMs, ATMA/ITTAC, DPIIT, Research Institutes,
Academic Institutions, &Bureau of Energy Efficiency. The event concluded
with vote of thanks by Amit Karwal (AGM-ICAT) & Convener-iSATT'21.