04/15/2010

• Tailored to customers' individual specifications
• Suitable for the toughest transportation tasks
• No pressure loss possible

Hanover/Munich, April 2010. Conventional industrial tyres cannot be used for all tough transportation tasks, which is why for exceptional challenges Continental's industrial tyre experts develop special solutions. One such innovative system for increasing load capacity has just reached series-production readiness.

Self-Propelled Modular Transporters (SPMTs) are used to transport the most unusual objects. Whether these be entire stone-built churches or offshore oil separation plants weighing over 15,000 tons, there are virtually no limits - provided the tyres can cope. The number of tyres used has to match the required load capacity, but in some cases, even that is not enough.

Ralf Krieger, Head of Product Development and Product Industrialisation of Industrial Pneumatic Tyres at Continental's Industrial Tyre Business Unit, had developed a new tyre concept based on the IC 40, size 355/65-15, for really mighty tasks. This crossply industrial pneumatic tyre has proved itself in the most arduous applications under the toughest of conditions. However, for the special task facing the heavy haulage specialists Scheuerle, the  load capacity had to be increased from some 10 tons to 12. Recounting his thoughts on how to create the load bearing capability required, Ralf Krieger commented: "With only 10 bar inflation pressure a tyre tube subjected to a load of 12 tons would have been chafed to pieces."  Filling the tyre with water or increasing the inflation pressure to over 10 bar also proved impracticable options.

Summarising the solution that was ultimately chosen, Krieger explained: "In the end we filled it with polyurethane under high pressure. Under pressure the system gains the tension we are after and the tyre becomes more rigid than with a gas filling.“ The polyurethane filling means that this special tyre cannot lose air. After complex calculations and the appropriate trials, the IC 40 optimised for this task was eventually approved for a load of 12 tons at a speed of 1 km/h (0.62 mph). Continental Industrial Tyres now supplies these IC40 industrial tyres as complete wheels to the heavy load transport specialists Scheuerle.