By now, we have all had chance to use the various high pressure hand driers. Perhaps the proximal unit was the Dyson Airblade <link>*. The key to their design is using a thin plane of high pressure/velocity air to blast water from the skin surface rather than using energetically-expensive heat in an attempt to evaporate the water. They work very efficiently at moving water from the hands to the floor where it pools, waiting to claim an elderly person's hip. The aim is to extend the same principle to vehicle tires.

Driving along in the rain leads to the road getting wet, water pooling on the road surface and generally being a problem for tire-ground friction. To cope with this, tires have grooves, termed "sipes" that help them move water away from the contact patch. This leads to water being forced out of the sides of the tire-ground contact patch and also to water being forced into the sipes/onto the tire surface. The tire then discards most of this water through centrifugal force. Driving alongside a truck, you can see that water is sprayed out around the whole tire circumference. In an attempt to prevent nightmarish amounts of spray, guards/wheel arches and various flaps are fitted to vehicles. These work to varying degrees.

Now, imagine an Airblade-style nozzle fitted to the rear of a vehicle wheel arch. This should be at around a 45 degree angle to the ground pointed at the tire. Now, as the water-laden tire rotates, water in the sipes and adhering to the surface is "peeled" off. This removes the vast majority of the water low down on the tire limiting the average height to which the water is sprayed - improving road conditions. Also, the tire is much drier by the time it comes into contact with the road again, increasing it's water-clearing capacity. The system might be more efficient if the sipes were specifically targeted, but this would require levels of coordination/alignment that in my experience, are likely incompatible with truck operators.

*Although for me, the Mitsubishi Jet Towel is top of the tree.
-- bs0u0155, Dec 27 2023

Dyson Airblade https://en.wikipedi...wiki/Dyson_Airblade
[bs0u0155, Dec 27 2023]

I've had this idea before. Air_20Knife_20Tread_20Cleaner
[bs0u0155, Jan 02 2024]

Wouldn't work without a massive, efficiency-sapping air inlet. [+]

Also in my experience there are no effective blown-air hand driers. Including the air blade kind. If I just walk around for 2 minutes my hands are dry. If I spend a minute using one of those and then walk around for a minute, my hands are dry.
-- Voice, Dec 27 2023


IF the air stream can successfully blast the water off of the tyre

WHY not use the air stream to blast the water off the road in front of the tyre
-- pocmloc, Dec 27 2023


// WHY not use the air stream to blast the water off the road in front of the tyre //

Because pointing a high powered jet forward against the direction of travel would be even LESS efficient? Or if blasting straight down it would act as if lifting the vehicle and reduce traction?
-- a1, Dec 27 2023


//WHY not use the air stream to blast the water off the road in front of the tyre//

Heck, why not just use a series of brushes, for the tire AND the road?

No, it wouldn't dry the road, but seems like it would eliminate or at least reduce hydroplaning. Bun for the general idea at least. [+]
-- doctorremulac3, Dec 28 2023


Morphing tire treads that change their depth, pattern, and road contact depending on the conditions.
-- minoradjustments, Dec 31 2023


//WHY not use the air stream to blast the water off the road in front of the tyre//

I was completely CONVINCED I'd already written this idea up, in fact, I considered this a separate and not-quite-as-good idea. What's actually happened is that I have written up this idea before <link> and mentioned clearing water ahead of the tire at the end. What I'll do is write up the high-pressure clearing jet idea properly and delete this one as i've clearly plagiarized my own ideas.
-- bs0u0155, Jan 02 2024


//Heck, why not just use a series of brushes, for the tire AND the road?//

Brushes would wear out, making them a maintenance item. You know how humans perform with maintenance items. Anyhow, they'd create (probably negligible) but visible drag. They'd be difficult to switch on/off in the same way. They'd make noise and probably generate 5 gajillion microplastic particles. Then there's pot holes, every now and then I crash through a 5" deep pothole that would tear the brush right off the car.
-- bs0u0155, Jan 02 2024



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