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Tyres – a high-tech product: Continental goes behind the scenes at its development labs
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• Compilation of materials provides unique insight into tyre development sections
• Information Book presents all of Continental’s R&D labs
• Extensive photographic and video material available
A new tyre has to pass through several sections of Continental’s R&D department before it can go into series production. Today’s product development process can last between three and five years and involves a host of indoor and outdoor tests. Continental is releasing a detailed Information Book that provides an in-depth insight into tyre development, focusing on these test labs.
New tyres start with the Mixing Lab where the basic ingredient, ie rubber, is blended together with various components, according to exact recipes, in order to replicate the characteristics of the future tyre. This is followed by a look at the Compound Testing Lab, Special Labs, cutting workshop and finally the test labs. Exhaustive tyre analysis and simulation methods are used to test future series production tyres in several stages.
CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY FOR SUSTAINABLE, CUSTOMER-ORIENTED TYRE DEVELOPMENT
The teams working in R&D test all new tyre prototypes, simulating their performance in different driving situations. Virtual tyre development holds great potential for fast, resource-efficient testing, especially when it comes to developing tyres for electric vehicles. Customers can combine tyre models with vehicle models before testing directly on a computer or driving simulator, while also factoring in new findings to the ongoing development process much more quickly.
Continental tyre experts are also able to tap into the huge network of specialists at its automotive division. “This allows us to increase our know-how and get prototype tyres ready for market faster,” explained Andreas Schlenke, Head of Department at Passenger Car Tyres R&D. “The first-rate technical skills of our labs and the state-of-the-art technology used bear witness to our tyre development expertise and our ability to implement requests from customers for new drive technologies in a quick, innovative way.”
The Information Book also includes QR codes that can be scanned to access an absorbing selection of photographic and video material. All the material can be found on the website.
*www.continental-tyres.co.uk/car/about-us/our-rd-labs
Published On: 04/11/2021 16:00:50
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