The trends driving growth in tyre improvement

Tyres can make or break agricultural production or agro-processing activities. In light of this fact, great research is being conducted on the improvement of tyre efficiency and affordability.

- Janine Ryan

For the layperson, tyres are often a neglected part of vehicle maintenance. However, for farmers and agro-producers, tyres are an important part of the production process.

As the world’s agricultural industries expand and more farmers turn to technology to improve productivity, start-ups and major tyre-manufacturing companies are investing large sums of money into tyre development and improvement.

GENERATING ENERGY

In early April 2022, Matt Ross, editor-in-chief of Tire Technology International, wrote that Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI), in collaboration with Prof Hiroshi Tani of Kansai University in Japan, has been working on the development of a power-generating device, dubbed the ‘energy harvester’, which uses the rotation of the tyre to generate electricity. “[This power can then be used] for peripheral sensors installed in and around the [tyre], eliminating the need to rely on batteries. The [tyre] maker has now succeeded in developing techniques for measuring [tyre] wear status and contact footprint utilising these energy harvesters,” Ross wrote.