[NEXEN CULTURE] Design concept behind our eco-friendly tires

To commemorate Earth Day, let’s take a look back at our design award-winning environment-friendly concept tires that we have been showcasing over the years.

GreenHive is a cutting-edge next-generation product that enables customers to easily purchase and replace worn treads on solid-bottom wheel tires. It received high marks for innovativeness, eco-friendliness, and economic feasibility, and it has garnered global attention for introducing a new paradigm in the conventional tire market.

This tire uses a beehive pattern as a motif to emphasize the product's sturdy and eco-friendly concept. Each tread block has a six-pointed beehive pattern. In addition, the pattern maximizes intensity and stability in tire treads due to the hexagonal structure's strength and outstanding shock absorbing ability. The tread compound refill is made of a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), which is a physical mixture of plastic (at high temperatures) and rubber (at room temperature) with thermoplastic and elastomeric properties. The various types of refills can be visually distinguished by different colors that indicate their use for specific conditions such as road racing, driving on icy road surfaces, and so on.

Each tire's body is made up of a sidewall and an all-in-one wheel, which improves ride quality by incorporating multiple layers of steel cords. The internal steel molding heats up and stretches the tread compound refill. Then, by pushing the refill compound through the hexagonal wheel hole, it increases air pressure to generate a hexagon tread block.

Vehicle tires are typically discarded when the tread wears out due to constant contact with road surfaces. Apart from the worn-out tread, other parts of most discarded tires, such as the sidewall and internal structure, are usually in good condition. Users can use GreenHive tires semi-permanently by continuously reproducing new blocks of tread with a tread compound refill. This can also be used to regularly maintain tire performance.

BREATHRE is an air purifying concept tire designed to help reduce recent environmental issues like air pollution and fine dust. BREATHRE filters polluted air and fine dust with air purifying filters embedded within the tire before releasing purified air back into the atmosphere.

The term BREATHRE refers to the principle of an air purifier, which inhales, purifies, and discharges contaminated air with a cleaning function. An LED sensor on the tire's exterior indicates the degree of fine dust pollution, allowing the user to identify it. The body's interior is made up of Filter-Sensor-Frame-Propeller-Module. The principle is that air is introduced through the ventilator duct and the purified air is exhausted from the tread, aiding in the removal of air pollution such as soot, yellow dust, and fine dust.

The PUREBACK was designed to separate and discharge microplastics produced while driving in a central capsule in real time via an inlet between treads. This helps to prevent air pollution by reducing microplastics that cause tire wear.

Conventional automotive tires contribute to microplastic pollution through shedding during daily use, which is something that the PUREBACK concept tire aims to change. The tires are designed to separate and discharge microplastics while driving before capturing them in an internal central capsule. Instead of simply dispersing the collected waste into the environment, it could be deposited at service stations.

The envisioned PUREBACK tire includes an intelligent LED system that alerts drivers when the internal collection capsule needs to be replaced. Blue lighting indicates particle capture, while red indicates that the system is full.