Analysis of Effect of Tire Inflation Pressure, Inflation Fluids, Load and Speed on Tire Performance

There are various losses associated with passenger vehicle that affect its fuel economy as it is being operated. These losses include losses at engine, driveline, aerodynamic and rolling losses. While engine, driveline and aerodynamic losses are inherent with the vehicle due to large number of parts that are assembled together, rolling loss is associated with the vehicle tires and it is the only part of the vehicle that comes in contact with the road surface. The rolling resistance of inflated tires is an important component of rolling resistance to vehicle motion and contributes to vehicle fuel consumption. Hence the effect of tire parameters such as inflation pressure, speed and load are the subject of much current interest. Also effect of type of inflation fluid on tire performance is a need of investigation. This work is focused on the design and development of tire testing setup to test the tire performance parameters like rolling resistance and tire temperature by varying the load, speed, inflation pressure and inflation fluids. Tire 135/70 R12 65 S was selected for testing. The test was conducted under various loads, speed, inflation pressure and inflation fluids were air and nitrogen. The result of experimental analysis shows that there is increase in rolling resistance and tire temperature with increase in speed and load. Also, the rolling resistance and tire temperature increases with decreasing the inflation pressure. For determining the better performance of tire among air and nitrogen, the test was conducted by varying the inflation pressure, load and speed. The results of experimental analysis shows that the tire with nitrogen gas resulted in to lower rolling resistance and lower tire temperature as compared with air.