They all look the same, round and black, but in the tires there is a great hidden technology, in the case of Pirelli, the result of an enormous research work with the Politecnico di Milano and the Fondazione Politecnico that have been working on the future and on the innovation. The partnership, called “Joint Labs”, has just been renewed for another three years and today we work with very special tools. In other words, the static simulator, installed in the Pirelli R&D center in Milan, and the dynamic simulator in the Polytechnic. But in what direction are these studies going? “The macro-areas of research – explain the Milanese engineers – are the Materials area, with the development of innovative solutions and the modeling of mixing processes, and the Product and Cyber Development area, with static-dynamic simulation integrated and innovative modeling “.
In particular, there are 5 departments of the Milanese University involved in the activities envisaged by the agreement (Mechanics; Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering; Mathematics; Electronics, Information and Bioengineering; Civil and Environmental Engineering) and the researchers are therefore involved in different thematic areas . From the development stages to the testing of new tires with virtual reality, from the study of polymers to nanotechnology, from noise reduction to tire aerodynamics.
An immense work, which over the 10 years of the collaboration agreement between Politecnico di Milano, Fondazione Politecnico and Pirelli has led to as many as 14 patents and about thirty publications of articles in international scientific newspapers. “An area of particular interest – they explain to Pirelli – was that relating to the study of low-noise tires dedicated in particular to new hybrid and electric vehicles in which this component is relevant for driver comfort. In fact, innovative test methods were applied for the indoor measurement of the acoustic field generated by the rolling tire. By means of the Tread Modeling Automation project, the modeling of tires and the characteristics of the various summer, winter and all-season treads were studied ”.
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