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Airless tires could be the next line of defense

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published January 15, 2007

WAUSAU, Wis. - A team of mechanical engineers funded by the Pentagon has an idea for saving the lives of troops in Iraq: An airless tire that won't go flat if shot or hit by shrapnel from a roadside bomb.

The tires, which are under development at Resilient Technologies, are filled with compressed polymers, or plastic, instead of compressed air.

The tension of the plastic provides strength, allowing them to work just like air-filled tires, said Ali Manesh, chief technology officer.

The idea isn't entirely new, but Manesh is convinced he has found ways to overcome problems that have plagued other airless tires - such as dissipating the heat buildup that occurs when they're driven.

A handmade prototype has been built, he said.

A flat tire on a vehicle like the Army's Humvee, especially in urban warfare, makes it vulnerable to an ambush, said Manesh, a mechanical engineer who spent five years developing his idea before the $11-million government contract was awarded.

"You can have all the armor in the world you want on a vehicle, but if the tire is vulnerable, it is going to stop the vehicle.

What the military hopes to do is develop the next generation of tire to help alleviate that problem," said Jim Dobbs of Resilient Technologies.

The goal is to have an airless tire survive what CEO Robert Lange calls the damage of "something shy of a land mine" so the vehicle can drive away from the danger.

Resilient, a private research company founded in 2005, is owned equally by Augusta Systems Inc. in West Virginia, American Science and Technology Corp. in Chicago and WADAL Plastics Inc. in Medford, Wis.

Its only income is the defense contract, Lange said. The company is seeking a patent for its invention.

The dream is to produce an airless tire - called the "nonpneumatic tire," or NPT - that could be sold commercially for passenger cars, he said.

Seven engineers and an office manager work at Resilient's office at a Wausau industrial park, testing and retesting models of Manesh's theories.

It is not a matter of whether his ideas work, only when, Manesh said.

"The theory of it is sound. From theory to manufacturing, there are always glitches. Then you have to try to iron those out."

Charles Pergantis, a mechanical engineer for the Army Research Laboratory in Maryland, said Resilient has developed a "somewhat different structure" for an airless tire from what has been done before.

"I think they have put together a good plan of attack on how to develop this thing," he said.

[Last modified January 14, 2007, 19:54:39]