Last month, the Hyundai Motor Group (remember, it includes Kia) introduced an innovative wheel, the Uni Wheel, designed for electric vehicles with a built-in gearbox and very clever kinematics, and this week the press service of the Korean company shared another invention of its engineers — a wheel with the effect of snow chains, which is activated through the multimedia system menu.
Snow chains significantly improve the maneuverability and grip properties of car tires when driving in deep snow, ice and other types of soft ground, but their installation requires skill, which most drivers do not have — without training, putting chains on wheels is not easy, especially in cold, muddy and poor visibility.
Hyundai Motor Group engineers offer a technically more complex solution to the problem of cross-country ability, but for the driver it is just simpler, because the effect of chains on the wheels appears at the command of the electronics after pressing the corresponding “button” from the passenger compartment, there is no need to go outside and carry out complex manipulations.
The idea is to provide the wheel with built-in bracelets that attach to the rim and wrap around the outer contour of the tire in six places. The internal part of such bracelets, located in the disk, is made of a special metal alloy with a memory effect of the original shape. The initial form in this case is bracelets that protrude beyond the perimeter of the tires and act as an additional tread. In a passive state, the bracelets are compressed and are located inside the perimeter of the tires, that is, they do not in any way affect their grip properties and cross-country ability. When electric current is applied, the inner part of each barlet unbends and pushes the outer part beyond the perimeter of the tire. When the current is turned off, the bracelets sag and return to a passive state. You can see how it works in the demo video published on YouTube.
Movable bracelets also have a positive side effect — they can act as tire wear indicators: when the tread wears off, the tires will be scraped by the metal of the bracelets on the asphalt.
Hyundai Motor Group has registered for its wheels with built-in anti-skid bracelets have several patents, but I’m not yet ready to say when we will see them on production cars — tests for reliability and durability are necessary. In addition, it is clear that standard wheels and standard tires are not suitable for the device invented by South Korean engineers, and special equipment will be required to replace a punctured tire on a wheel with built-in anti-skid bracelets. In general, there are no fewer minuses than pluses, but the development is nevertheless quite interesting.