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April 30, 2015 02:00 AM

Cooper exceeds targets in DOE project

Tire Business Staff
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    FINDLAY, Ohio (April 30, 2015) — Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. has completed work on a government-funded research project to develop technology aimed at increasing vehicle fuel efficiency and has started incorporating some of the modeling technology into its development process.

    The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in 2011, called for Cooper to develop technology for light vehicle tires that delivered a minimum 3 percent improvement in vehicle fuel efficiency while lowering average tire weight by at least 20 percent, all without sacrificing performance, Cooper said.

    Cooper said it was successful in developing technologies that exceeded the project's goals, delivering an average fuel efficiency improvement of 5.5 percent and weight reduction ranging from 23 to 37 percent in concept tires.

    The grant period began in late 2011 and continued through year-end 2014. Tire development work under the grant was done at Cooper's North America and Global Technical Centers, both located in Findlay. Cooper also enlisted the help of the DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for modeling and computational analysis.

    Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. photo

    Chuck Yurkovich, Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.'s vice president of global research and development.

    Besides incorporating new tire modeling technology into its development processes,  Cooper is evaluating long-wearing and fuel-efficient tread compound technology for use in tires for both OE and replacement market applications, according to Chuck Yurkovich, senior vice president of global research and development.

    “The technical challenges presented by this program were significant, yet the work was extremely gratifying as we addressed sustainability and performance,” Mr. Yurkovich said.

    Improving vehicle fuel efficiency by at least 3 percent was accomplished by developing a product with more than 30-percent lower rolling resistance, he said, while reducing tire weight 20 percent required making product that was five to six pounds lighter than the baseline 26-pound tire.

    “Our innovative approach was to develop a new energy-efficient tire profile and design in combination with an ultra-lightweight tire construction,” Mr. Yurkovich said. “The process utilized innovative materials not typically used in tires today. In all, we developed and evaluated six new technologies as part of the program's first phase.”

    Cooper also evaluated the holistic impact of putting all of these technologies into a concept tire. Combining these advancements allowed Cooper to exceed the grant's aggressive goals, Mr. Yurkovich added.

    Other technologies are being further developed for potential commercial applications in the future.

    “While we have more work to do to fully assess commercial viability of some of these new features, we certainly have taken leaps forward in developing tire technologies with strong potential for consumer benefit,” Yurkovich concluded.

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