INRTU Successfully Tested Tires for Cordiant Holding
INRTU was visited by representatives of Intair Research and Development Centre (a Cordiant Holding company) Dmitry Golubev and Alexander Kapustin. They highly valued the work of the stand where the university tested the company's car tires. The specialists also discussed the prospects of co-operation with the management of the university and the Department of Automobile Transport.
Cordiant is one of the largest Russian manufacturers of tires for cars and trucks. The company's history began back in 1932 with a tire factory in Yaroslavl. Since 2006 the company has been producing tires under the Cordiant brand. The holding company includes several subsidiaries, including the Intair R&D Centre. The main task of the center is to develop and upgrade tires.
According to the head of the department, Professor Alexander Fedotov, at the end of 2023 representatives of Intair R&D Centre handed over for testing in INRTU samples of tires of their own production, German models of Continental AG and Chinese ones of Nankang. The work was carried out on a drum tester created on the basis of the Department of Automobile Transport. The tester is equipped with a polymer-coated running drum, a drive motor and sensors that determine the parameters of dynamic and friction parameters of tires.
INRTU researchers studied tire characteristics that affect the handling and stability of cars. They adjusted the design of the stand and its units specifically to meet Cordiant's requirements. In just six months 16 tire samples were tested.
After the successful tests, university was visited by Dmitry Golubev, head of Intair R&D Centre and Alexander Kapustin, head of the Department of Advanced Developments of the company. Last Wednesday, the INRTU students demonstrated to them the work of the test stand in the department's research and development laboratory. The guests were also shown the capabilities of other equipment for diagnostics of intelligent car systems, including braking, anti-lock, traction control and a number of other safety systems.
“The company is keen to expand co-operation with INRTU. We are interested in working together to upgrade existing methods and create an additional stand for tire wear resistance tests. It was the first time in my life that I watched a car being tested on the stand in side skid mode. I am proud that Russia has specialists capable of making such devices,” said Dmitry Golubev, Director of Intair.Alexander Kapustin, Head of the Advanced Development Department, commented favorably on the work of the INRTU team.
“Cooperation with INRTU started two years ago. We learnt from a scientific source that Irkutsk has a team capable of solving very complex issues for our industry. And so it turned out to be. After working with the Irkutsk team, we intend to bring our product characteristics up to the level of imported standards. We are interested in increasing the volume of material being studied and expanding the scope of tests together with INRTU,” said Alexander Kapustin.In addition, Cordiant representatives attended a presentation of the Department of Automobile Transport. Professor Alexander Fedotov and Associate Professor Oleg Yankov spoke on the research that the team has been conducting since 1982 in Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude. The representatives of the holding were interested in the prospect of tire testing on the road tire tester designed by the INRTU on the basis of the Ural off-road truck.
The final part of the visit was a meeting with Aleksandr Kononov, Vice-Rector for Research.
Photos by Arseny Chekmariov
