Tire sensor for a tire monitoring system

• US 10,406,866 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2016
• Issued: 09/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
• Original Assignee: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
• Inventors: Besnoin, Etienne, Leconte, Armand Rene Gabriel, Fontaine, Sebastien Willy, Ngo, Frederic, Bach, Claude, Kreutz, Jean-Claude, Willems, Patrick Francois, Singh, Kanwar Bharat, Parsons, Anthony William
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Vu A
• Application Number:
  US15/083,356
• Publication Number:
  US 20170246915A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,260 Days
• Field of Search: 73146, 731462, 731463
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 11/246 Tread wear monitoring systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0415 Automatically identifying wheel mounted units, e.g. after replacement or exchange of wheels
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0488 Movement sensor, e.g. for sensing angular speed, acceleration or centripetal force
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/02 Tyres
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 3/56 Investigating resistance to wear or abrasion

Abstract

An assembly determines operating parameters of a tire. The assembly includes a tripod sensor mounted within an inner cavity of the tire underneath a crown portion and an innerliner on which the tripod sensor is mounted. The tripod sensor includes a tri-axial accelerometer for creating a circumferential signal for determining slip ratio, a lateral signal for determining a slip angle, and a radial signal for determining load on the tire.

Claims

1. A tire wear state estimation system comprising:

at least one tire supporting a vehicle;

a tri-axial sensor mounted to the tire, the tri-axial sensor measuring tire inflation pressure and generating tire inflation pressure data, measuring tire vertical mode frequency and generating tire vertical mode frequency data, generating tire-specific frequency mode coefficients using tire-specific identification data, and calculating an estimation of a tire wear state based upon the tire inflation pressure data, the vertical mode frequency data, and the tire-specific frequency mode coefficients.

2. The tire wear state estimation system of claim 1 wherein the tri-axial sensor comprises a tire-mounted pressure measuring device operative to measure a tire cavity pressure and transmit the tire inflation pressure data derived from the tire cavity pressure measurement.

3. The tire wear state estimation system of claim 2 wherein the tri-axial sensor comprises tire-specific identification data stored therein.

4. The tire wear state estimation system of claim 3 wherein tire-specific frequency mode coefficients are generated by the tri-axial sensor using on-vehicle or in-tire measurement of a tire vertical mode frequency.

5. The tire wear state estimation system of claim 4 wherein measurement of tire vertical mode frequency performed by a wheel-mounted accelerometer or a tire crown-mounted accelerometer.

6. A tire wear state estimation system comprising:

at least one tire supporting a vehicle;

a tri-axial sensor affixed to the tire operative to measure a tire cavity pressure and transmit tire inflation pressure data; and

tire-specific identification data stored within, and accessible from, the tri-axial sensor, the tri-axial sensor measuring tire vertical mode frequency and generating tire vertical mode frequency data, generating tire-specific frequency mode coefficients using the tire-specific identification data and on-vehicle or in-tire measurement of a tire vertical mode frequency, and calculating an estimation of a tire wear state based upon tire inflation pressure data, tire vertical mode frequency data, and tire-specific frequency mode coefficients.

7. The tire wear state estimation system of claim 6 wherein measurement of the tire vertical mode frequency is from a wheel-mounted accelerometer or a tire crown-mounted accelerometer.

8. A method of tire wear state estimation comprising:

affixing a tri-axial sensor to a vehicle-supporting tire, the tri-axial sensor measuring a tire cavity inflation pressure and generating tire inflation pressure data;

measuring tire vertical mode frequency and generating tire vertical mode frequency data;

generating tire-specific frequency mode coefficients using tire-specific identification data; and

calculating an estimation of a tire wear state based upon the tire inflation pressure data, vertical mode frequency data, and tire-specific frequency mode coefficients.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising generating tire-specific frequency mode coefficients using on-vehicle or in-tire measurement of a tire vertical mode frequency.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising measuring the tire vertical mode frequency from a wheel-mounted accelerometer or a tire crown-mounted accelerometer.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising calculating an estimation of the tire wear state includes employing a correlation model between tire wear state and tire vertical mode frequency.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising configuring the correlation model to comprise a recursive least squares algorithm based on a polynomial model capturing a dependency between tire wear state, tire inflation pressure data, and tire vertical mode frequency.