Student designs of 'intelligent' tires for tomorrow win kudos at a prestigious international trade show

(Phys.org)—Intelligent tires may be just around the corner – especially if designs by students in the  University of Cincinnati's nationally number-one ranked industrial design program are realized.

Their on-target designs for tomorrow's tires won two awards from Hankook Tire America Corp., as well as display at the prestigious Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) trade show earlier this fall in Las Vegas, and in-motion visualization in a futuristic, special-effects video.

During winter quarter 2012, third-year industrial design students in UC's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) were asked to create futuristic tire designs based on their visions for the future of cars, sustainability needs such as reducing and reusing raw materials used in tire production and the importance of increasing tire efficiency while meeting specific tire-performance targets. Leading the students in that course was Raphael Zammit, associate professor of industrial design.

Among the results was UC student Ben Zavala's conceptual design for "Tiltred," an unusual tilting tire design that won a first place from studio class sponsor, Hankook Tire America Corp in its "Tire Design for the Future Environment" competition. Second place in that contest went to UC student Mark Hearn for his "Motive" off-road design.