Kumho wins major awards for next-gen tyres
Kumho has won major international design awards for two advanced, next-generation tyres that feature no inflation and hybrid semi pneumatic design in response to future car design concepts.
Kumho clinched two 2020 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) for its e-NIMF and e-TOP tyres, which the company says feature advanced engineering that takes tyre design “to an entirely new level”.
The IDEA awards follow Kumho iF and Red Dot awards in February and March, giving the company the distinction of having won all three of the world’s top design awards in the same year.
Kumho’s e-NIMF (eco-friendly, no-inflation, and maintenance-free) is an airless concept tyre which the company says offers excellent driving stability. Unlike its conventional equivalents, the tyre doesn’t suffer from periodic deflation or the need to be discarded when worn, as it can almost indefinitely be rejuvenated with replacement treads.
Kumho says the process is environmentally friendly and saves maintenance, time and cost and it has subjected the concept tyre to countless tests and simulations regarding the shape, material, and manufacturing methods of the tyre’s spokes.
As a result, the e-NIMF’s levels of durability, noise, vibration and rolling resistance are remarkably similar to that of current pneumatic offerings. In addition, Kumho says heat fusion has been adopted for the sake of manufacturability.
The revolutionary Kumho e-TOP (Topology Optimised and Punctureless) is a hybrid tyre that features the combined strengths of pneumatic and airless tyre design.
The e-TOP’s airless upper structure of spokes and tread protect the tyre from the threat of foreign matter, while the lower, less vulnerable section contains air like a conventional tyre. This ‘mutually complementary composition’ results in an equivalent performance to conventional tyres while avoiding air loss issues associated with them.
“For the past few years, we have been developing products such as airless tyres in active response to the future car design, and our success in the IDEA Awards scheme reflects Kumho’s future-oriented design and technological prowess,” said Kumho Tire’s senior vice-president of research and development, Jung Il-Taik.
“We have focused our research on airless tyres and hybrid products, and will continue reinforcing our design and technological capabilities in order to deliver both safety and convenience, the two qualities most sought after by our customers,” he said.
The IDEA Awards are organised by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and have been held for the past 40 years.
IDSA selects winners in accordance with the five criteria of innovative design, user experience, user benefits, corporate social responsibility, and aesthetic values. Kumho says the IDEAs are considered the Oscars of the design world, and this year more than 1,800 entries vied for recognition.
