Eco-friendly innovations have swept the boards at the inaugural Tyre Technology International Awards for Innovation and Excellence.
Presented at the Tyre Technology Expo in Germany, awards were handed out for ecological tyre advances including intelligent recycling technologies, materials-saving and energy efficient manufacturing systems.
Amongst the triumphant companies were Michelin who won the Tyre Technology of the Year Award for its even more environmentally friendly version of the Energy Saver range. Developed initially for Peugeot, the tyre uses rubber compound based on a new generation of silica and uses a specially developed mixing process which almost eliminates the need for carbon black. For the driver, the tyre helps create low rolling resistance of 20% generating significant savings in terms of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
In the Manufacturing and Design Innovation category, the Institute of Mechanics and Computational Mechanics at the Leibniz Universat Hannover picked up the trophy. The advanced tyre modelling software that Institute created provides substantially more detailed theoretical calculations enabling simple and quick research into construction parameters.
The final winner of the day was Bridgestone who was crowned Tyre Manufacturer of the year. This is in recognition of the numerous achievements of the Japanese manufacturer over the last 12 months including expansion of its European Technical Centre and Proving Ground. Bridgestone was also cited for its participation in various eco-projects aimed at improving the ecological balance of its activities.
