By ROBERT IMRIE
The Associated Press
Saturday, December 30, 2006; 8:09 PM
WAUSAU, Wis. -- A team of mechanical engineers funded by the Pentagon has an
idea for saving the lives of troops in Iraq: An airless tire that won't go flat
if shot or hit by shrapnel from a roadside bomb.
The tires, which are still under development at Resilient Technologies, are
filled with compressed polymers, or plastic, instead of compressed air. The
tension of the plastic provides strength, allowing them to work just like
air-filled tires, said Ali Manesh, the company's chief technology officer.
The idea isn't entirely new, but Manesh is convinced he's found ways to overcome
problems that have plagued other airless tires _ such as dissipating the heat
buildup that occurs when they're driven. A handmade prototype has already been
built, he said.
A flat tire on a vehicle like the Army's Humvee, especially in urban warfare,
makes it vulnerable to an ambush, said Manesh, a mechanical engineer who spent
five years developing his idea before the $11 million government contract was
awarded.
"You can have all the armor in the world you want on a vehicle, but if the tire
is vulnerable, it is going to stop the vehicle. What the military hopes to do is
develop the next generation of tire to help alleviate that problem," said Jim
Dobbs, a Resilient Technologies spokesman.
The goal is to have an airless tire survive what Chief Executive Officer Robert
Lange calls the damage of "something shy of a land mine" so the vehicle can
still drive away from the danger.
Resilient, a private research company founded in 2005, is owned equally by
Augusta Systems Inc. in West Virginia, American Science and Technology Corp. in
Chicago and WADAL Plastics Inc. in Medford, Wis.
Its only income so far is the defense contract, Lange said. The company also is
seeking a patent for its invention. The dream is to produce an airless tire _ so
far called the "non-pneumatic tire," or NPT _ that could be sold commercially
for passenger cars, he said.
Seven engineers and an office manager work at Resilient's office at a Wausau
industrial park, testing and retesting models of Manesh's theories. It is not a
matter of whether his ideas work, only when, Manesh said. "The theory of it is
sound. From theory to manufacturing, there is always glitches. Then you have to
try to iron those out."
Charles Pergantis, a mechanical engineer for the Army Research Laboratory in
Maryland, said Resilient has developed a "somewhat different structure" for an
airless tire than has been done before.
"I think they have put together a good plan of attack on how to develop this
thing," he said. "I am not sure if they are going to be meet all the successes
that we want. They have some very, very interesting designs. It does sound very
exciting." Manesh refuses to discuss the details of his invention because a
patent is pending.
Capt. Jason Stebbins, commander of the Wisconsin National Guard's 1158th
Transportation Co., spent a year hauling equipment between Kuwait and Iraq. His
big trucks traveled a combined 4.6 million miles, and his crews changed hundreds
of flat tires because of punctures and blowouts. The soldier had never heard of
airless tires but likes the idea. "I would like to have a set on my truck,"
Stebbins said.
Pergantis said the Army uses what are called "run-flat" tires on some vehicles.
They allow a vehicle some mobility even if the tires are flat. An airless tire
is the next step, he said. Paul Mehney, a spokesman for the Army's Tank
Automotive Research Development Engineering Center in Warren, Mich., said the
Army is interested in an airless tire for logistics reasons, too. A smaller
supply of tires would be needed because they would not be changed as frequently
and they might be lighter than conventional tires, Mehney said.
In 2005, Michelin, one of the world's largest tire makers, unveiled an airless
tire, calling it a "tweel" _ flexible spokes fused with a flexible wheel
surrounded by a tread of rubber and no air pressure. The tweel was described as
the most radical change in the industry since the radial tire was invented
nearly 60 years ago. Time magazine named the tweel as one of the most amazing
inventions of 2005, but no products are being sold yet.
All Manesh will say is the series of web-like cavities on his airless tire make
it different than Michelin's tweel.
Lynn Mann, a spokeswoman for Michelin's North American headquarters in
Greenville, S.C., said the company has developed airless tire prototypes for the
military but has no contracts to provide them. Michelin is concentrating efforts
on low-speed, low-weight uses of an airless tire on construction equipment
first, she said. "We are years away from having a passenger car application,"
Mann said. "We do have a very early prototype for a passenger car. When you get
it up to a high speed, 50 or 60 mph, there is noticeable noise. We need to solve
the noise issue."
The Army uses up to 200,000 tires for Humvees a year, said Lt. Col. William
Wiggins, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon.
Pergantis of the Army Research Center said airless tires must provide comfort,
no vibrations and little noise, in part because of the sophisticated electronics
used in military vehicles. Pergantis, who is monitoring Resilient's research,
said it is way too early to predict whether the company's innovations clear the
way for an airless tire that meets the Army's needs.
"They are a small company with some big ideas," he said. "They have a good team.
They want to become another Goodyear."
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