Pneumatic tire mountable of a wheel rim and sensor net, rotation measurement unit and vehicle monitoring system for such tire

• US 20030201044A1
• Filed: 04/23/2003
• Published: 10/30/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TUV Automotive GmbH
• Original Assignee: TUV Automotive GmbH
• Inventors: Schick, Bernhard
• Granted Patent: US 7,158,018 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 152/152.1
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 11/24 Wear-indicating arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 11/246 Tread wear monitoring systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 19/00 Tyre parts or constructions not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 2019/004 Tyre sensors other than for detecting tyre pressure
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0408 transmitting the signals by non-mechanical means from the wheel or tyre to a vehicle body mounted receiver
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2210/13 Aquaplaning, hydroplaning

Abstract

A pneumatic tire mountable of the rim of a vehicle wheel has a toroidal structure including a pair of beads for receipt on the rim of a vehicle wheel such that the pneumatic tire is secured to the vehicle wheel for rotation therewith. The pneumatic tire also includes a tread band surface at the radially outermost location of the toroidal structure for contacting a surface along which the tire rolls. A plurality of sensor elements are disposed in the tire for sensing at least one operational parameter of the tire, with at least some of the sensor elements being in sensing arrangement with the tread band surface and the sensor elements being operable to permit reading of data concerning any tire operational parameter which is sensed by the sensor elements.

Claims

1. A pneumatic tire mountable of the rim of a vehicle wheel, comprising:

a toroidal structure including a pair of beads for receipt on the rim of the vehicle wheel such that the pneumatic tire is secured to the vehicle wheel for rotation therewith, and a tread band surface at the radially outermost location of the toroidal structure for contacting a surface along which the tire rolls; and

a plurality of sensor elements disposed in the tire for sensing at least one operational parameter of the tire, with at least some of the sensor elements being in sensing arrangement with the tread band surface and the sensor elements being operable to permit reading of data concerning any tire operational parameter which is sensed by the sensor elements.

2. A pneumatic tire according to claim 1, wherein the sensor elements are secured into a cord net which is vulcanized into the tire during the production of the tire.

3. A pneumatic tire according to claim 2 and further comprising a central unit, wherein the cord net includes cords which are electrically conductive and are operable to connect the sensor elements to the central unit.

4. A pneumatic tire according to claim 3, wherein the pneumatic tire includes an angularly extending belt, the cord net is disposed radially inwardly of the belt, and the belt forms a bonding structure between the sensor elements and the central unit.

5. A pneumatic tire according to claim 3, wherein the sensor elements and the central unit are connected to one another in a manner which permits the sensor elements to be individually interrogated by the central unit.

6. A pneumatic tire according to claim 3, wherein the central unit comprises a memory operable to store data received from the sensor elements concerning sensed operational tire parameters.

7. A pneumatic tire according to claim 3, wherein the central unit comprises a transponder.

8. A pneumatic tire according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the sensor elements is operatively connected with a transponder to form therewith an integrated functional unit.

9. A pneumatic tire according to claim 1, wherein the sensor elements sense at least one of a group of metrics relating to the pneumatic tire including temperature, pressure, and mechanical loading thereof.

13. A pneumatic tire according to claim 1 and further comprising a rotation measuring unit which registers the rotation of the pneumatic tire, a memory for storing the incremented tally of completed tire rotations, and an energy supply element operable to produce electrical energy for energizing the rotation measuring unit in response to rotation of the pneumatic tire.

14. A pneumatic tire according to claim 1 and further comprising a vehicle monitoring system having a control device operable to interrogate and read from the sensor elements data concerning any tire operational parameter which is sensed by the sensor elements, a unit for evaluating the data including means for applying an algorithm to evaluate the data, and a display unit for displaying evaluation results.

10. A pneumatic tire mountable of the rim of a vehicle wheel, comprising:

a toroidal structure including a pair of beads for receipt on the rim of the vehicle wheel such that the pneumatic tire is secured to the vehicle wheel for rotation therewith, and a tread band surface at the radially outermost location of the toroidal structure for contacting a surface along which the tire rolls;

a rotation measuring unit which registers the rotation of the pneumatic tire; and

a memory for storing the incremented tally of completed tire rotations.

11. A pneumatic tire according to claim 10 and further comprising an energy supply element operable to produce electrical energy for operation of the rotation measuring unit in response to rotation of the pneumatic tire.

12. A sensor net for sensing at least one operational parameter of a pneumatic tire mountable of the rim of a vehicle wheel, the pneumatic tire including a toroidal structure including a pair of beads for receipt on the rim of the vehicle wheel such that the pneumatic tire is secured to the vehicle wheel for rotation therewith, a tread band surface at the radially outermost location of the toroidal structure for contacting a surface along which the tire rolls, and an angularly extending belt disposed radially inwardly of the tread band surface, the sensor net comprising:

a plurality of sensor elements disposed in the tire for sensing at least one operational parameter of the tire, with at least some of the sensor elements being in sensing arrangement with the tread band surface and the sensor elements being operable to permit reading of data concerning any tire operational parameter which is sensed by the sensor elements; and

a cord net disposable in the pneumatic tire radially outwardly of the belt and at least partially covering the belt, the sensor elements being secured to the cord net and the cord net and the sensor elements being disposed in the pneumatic tire before the vulcanization thereof such that the cord net and the sensor elements are thereby secured in the vulcanized pneumatic tire.