Surface temperature prediction of novel non-pneumatic mechanical elastic wheel based on theory analysis and experimental verification

A theory analysis procedure has been developed here to predict the steady-state surface temperature of the mechanical elastic wheel (ME-Wheel), operating under different driving conditions. Due to the unique structure of ME-Wheel, the heat generation and heat dissipation mechanisms of ME-Wheel are discussed first. Then, the mechanical model of ME-Wheel is established to obtain the heat generation energy per unit time, while the heat dissipation energy is obtained using the theory thermal analysis of ME-Wheel. Two separate sets of testing are conducted to obtain the essential parameters of the contact patch and collect the data of the steady-state surface temperature of ME-Wheel, respectively. Then the proposed theory model has been verified. The obtained results indicate that the proposed theory model is feasible, showing the great potential to be applied in predicting the thermal conditions of ME-Wheel working under practical environment.