Patent attributes
An air maintenance tire assembly includes a tire having a tire cavity bounded by first and second sidewalls extending to a tire tread region, a pressure control assembly attached to an elongate valve stem projecting from a rim, the pressure control assembly being external to the tire cavity, the elongate valve stem projecting outward from the tire cavity and operative to admit pressurized air into the tire cavity through the pressure control assembly, the first sidewall having an annular sidewall air passageway therein operatively located to compress segment by segment responsive to a bending strain introduced into the first sidewall from a rolling tire footprint thereby forcing air, segment by segment, along the annular air passageway, a tube housing joining both ends of the annular air passageway, and a connecting tube extending from the tube housing to the pressure control assembly, the connecting tube operative to sequentially direct air forced along the air passageway, first, into the tube housing, the pressure control assembly and, then, into the elongate valve stem as the tire rolls over a ground surface.
