Thin spring steel band wheel with a rubber tread,a development proposal with potential to reduce fuel consumption on some road vehicles

Abstract

A reduction in vehicle rolling resistance is one of the goals of a partially developed vehicle suspension, called a band wheel or a track wheel. Instead of a pneumatic tyre, a band wheel uses an oval thin spring steel band with a very low hysteresis energy loss. The lower segment of the oval band acts like a leaf spring suspension. The current status of this suspension development is summarized. The rolling loss of the band wheel is calculated and estimated. New details describe the steps in producing and forming the critical thin steel spring-loaded band structure. Bonding of a rubber tread to the steel requires close attention to tread design to minimize its rolling resistance. A development project is needed to produce highly uniform and durable spring bands to demonstrate and measure the band wheel rolling resistance.