The Disc Gutter Wheel for Commercial Vehicles, a Solution for Overheating Problems with Robustness in Design

Overheating in commercial vehicles, even though if it’s in LCV segment, is a problem of high significance. There could be various level of problems that may arise due to heat generation resulting from braking (oversized brake drums left the wheels with lesser packaging clearances for air flow and cooling) and some of them are: 1. Early tire wear /reduction in tire life, 2. Air valve heat damage /air leak issues, 3. Frequent puncture problems, 4. Failure of other mating components and other heat initiated failures. However optimum the vent hole shape in a wheel may be, the air flow in the vicinity of drum periphery and wheel rim ID wouldn’t be sufficient enough because of the lesser clearance and packaging space as mentioned earlier. The basic construction of a wheel with disc welded to rim base ID was apparently modified to integrate the disc and gutter and weld it to rim OD. This provides additional 8mm clearance with a normal brake drum and hence effective heat dissipation from the wheel - brake - tire assembly. Adding to the above, the Disc Gutter Wheel has better packaging clearance, having more than 300 cc of additional packaging, this paves way for it to be used with caliper brakes and not only with drum brakes and with clearance for better air flow and cooling. With this the Disc Gutter Wheel and its mating components does a cooler service than the regular versions. Zero Gutter crack/failure and freedom of flow forming options allowing for a robust design are additional benefits of the product.