Hankook concepts win awards

Hankook Tire’ Tiltread and eMembrane concept tyres, designed and produced in collaboration with the University of Cincinnati, have been awarded the International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) 2014 in the transportation category.

That means Hankook has now won the world’s top three design awards, the others being the Red Dot Design Award and the iF Design Award.

Hankook’s award-winning Tiltread maximises performance in highpowered vehicles to keep pace with advancing car engine technology.

The tilting system equipped with partitioned tyres and automatic control suspension maximises the contact area of each partitioned tyre and lowers a car’s body by tilting the shaft during cornering, which enables safe and powerful turns.

Also, Tiltread’s three partitioned non-pneumatic tires are punctureresistant from the outset and also possess high durability and elasticity for outstanding cornering.

Another award-winning eMembrane, described as a smart hybrid concept, is a multi-use tyre for both performance and normal city driving.

By using shape memory alloys that change the contact ratio of the tyre according to a car’s speed, eMembrane’s tread is designed to produce minimal road contact area and ground friction when driving at low speeds, enhancing fuel efficiency with reduced rolling resistance.

When driving at high speeds, the tread centre extends to generate maximum ground friction with wider ground contact area, maximising grip power to execute dynamic cornering and performance driving.

Also, in order to make it easier to signal the changes in eMembrane’s driving modes, an LED alarm system is fitted in the tyre’s sidewall and transmitted to the driver.