Wireless tire pressure and/or wheel speed sensing system for aircraft
First Claim
1. A wireless tire pressure sensing system for an aircraft, said system comprising:
- dual resonant circuits mounted to a wheel of the aircraft, one resonant circuit comprising;
a first variable capacitance sensor for monitoring the pressure of a tire mounted to said wheel; and
a first wire loop of a first predetermined inductance coupled to said first variable capacitance sensor, and the other resonant circuit comprising;
a second variable capacitance sensor operative as a reference to said first variable capacitance sensor; and
a second wire loop of a second predetermined inductance coupled to said second variable capacitance sensor;
an interrogating circuit magnetically coupleable to said dual resonant circuits and operative to induce magnetically a variable frequency current in the dual resonant circuits, said one resonant circuit responding to said induced current with an E-field signal at a first resonant frequency commensurate with the capacitance of said first variable capacitance sensor, and said other resonant circuit responding to said induced current with an E-field signal at a second resonant frequency commensurate with the capacitance of said second variable capacitance sensor;
a receiving circuit E-field coupleable to said dual resonant circuits and operative to receive said E-field signals at said first and second resonant frequencies and to generate first and second signals representative thereof; and
a processing circuit coupled to said receiving circuit for processing said first and second signals to generate a compensated pressure reading of said tire.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A wireless tire pressure sensing system for an aircraft comprises: dual resonant circuits mounted to a wheel of the aircraft, each resonant circuit comprising: a variable capacitance sensor and a wire loop of a predetermined inductance coupled thereto, one capacitance sensor for monitoring the pressure of a tire mounted to the wheel, and the other capacitance sensor operative as a reference to the one capacitance sensor; an interrogating circuit magnetically coupleable to the dual resonant circuits and operative to induce magnetically a variable frequency current in the dual resonant circuits, the one resonant circuit responding to the induced current with an E-field signal at a first resonant frequency commensurate with the capacitance of the one sensor, and the other resonant circuit responding to the induced current with an E-field signal at a second resonant frequency commensurate with the capacitance of the other sensor; a receiving circuit E-field coupleable to the dual resonant circuits and operative to receive the E-field signals at the first and second resonant frequencies and to generate first and second signals representative thereof; and a processing circuit coupled to the receiving circuit for processing the first and second signals to generate a compensated pressure reading of the tire. The pressure sensing system may be modified to provide and/or include wheel speed sensing.
-
Citations
62 Claims
-
1. A wireless tire pressure sensing system for an aircraft, said system comprising:
-
dual resonant circuits mounted to a wheel of the aircraft, one resonant circuit comprising;
a first variable capacitance sensor for monitoring the pressure of a tire mounted to said wheel; and
a first wire loop of a first predetermined inductance coupled to said first variable capacitance sensor, and the other resonant circuit comprising;
a second variable capacitance sensor operative as a reference to said first variable capacitance sensor; and
a second wire loop of a second predetermined inductance coupled to said second variable capacitance sensor;
an interrogating circuit magnetically coupleable to said dual resonant circuits and operative to induce magnetically a variable frequency current in the dual resonant circuits, said one resonant circuit responding to said induced current with an E-field signal at a first resonant frequency commensurate with the capacitance of said first variable capacitance sensor, and said other resonant circuit responding to said induced current with an E-field signal at a second resonant frequency commensurate with the capacitance of said second variable capacitance sensor;
a receiving circuit E-field coupleable to said dual resonant circuits and operative to receive said E-field signals at said first and second resonant frequencies and to generate first and second signals representative thereof; and
a processing circuit coupled to said receiving circuit for processing said first and second signals to generate a compensated pressure reading of said tire. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. A method of wirelessly measuring pressure of a tire of an aircraft;
- said method comprising the steps of;
mounting first and second resonant circuits to a wheel of the aircraft to which the tire is mounted;
monitoring tire pressure with said first resonant circuit;
using said second resonant circuit as a reference to said first resonant circuit;
generating a variable frequency signal;
magnetically coupling the variable frequency signal to the first and second resonant circuits;
inducing first and second resonant frequencies in the first and second resonant circuits, respectively, by the magnetically coupled variable frequency signal, said first resonant frequency representative of an uncompensated pressure reading and said second resonant frequency signal representative of a compensation reading;
E-field coupling the first and second resonant frequencies from the first and second resonant circuits to a receiver circuit; and
generating a compensated pressure reading from the E-field coupled first and second resonant frequencies. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
- said method comprising the steps of;
-
31. A wireless tire pressure and wheel speed sensing system for an aircraft, said system comprising:
-
a resonant circuit mounted to a wheel of the aircraft for monitoring the pressure of a tire mounted to said wheel, said resonant circuit comprising a wire loop of a predetermined inductance;
an interrogating circuit magnetically coupleable to said resonant circuit and operative to induce magnetically a variable frequency current in the wire loop of said resonant circuit, said resonant circuit generating a corresponding variable frequency electric field in response to said induced current, said variable frequency electric field including a resonant frequency commensurate with the pressure of said tire;
a magnetic field altering apparatus for alternating the magnetic coupling between said wire loop and said interrogating circuit to cause a rate of amplitude modulations of said variable frequency electric field commensurate with said wheel speed;
a receiving circuit E-field coupleable to said resonant circuit and operative to receive said amplitude modulated variable frequency electric field of said resonant circuit and to generate a signal representative thereof;
a first processing circuit coupled to said receiving circuit for processing said signal to generate a pressure reading of said tire based on the resonant frequency thereof; and
a second processing circuit coupled to said receiving circuit for processing said signal to generate a wheel speed reading based on the rate of amplitude modulations thereof. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
-
-
38. A wireless tire pressure sensing system for an aircraft, said system comprising:
-
a resonant circuit mounted to a wheel of the aircraft, said resonant circuit comprising;
a variable capacitance sensor for monitoring the pressure of a tire mounted to said wheel; and
a wire loop of a predetermined inductance coupled to said variable capacitance sensor;
an interrogating circuit magnetically coupleable to said resonant circuit and operative to induce magnetically a variable frequency current in the resonant circuit, said resonant circuit responding to said induced current with an E-field signal at a resonant frequency commensurate with the capacitance of said variable capacitance sensor;
a receiving circuit E-field coupleable to said resonant circuit and operative to receive said E-field signal at said resonant frequency and to generate a signal representative thereof; and
a processing circuit coupled to said receiving circuit for processing said signal to generate a pressure reading of said tire. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40)
-
-
41. A method of wirelessly measuring pressure of a tire of an aircraft;
- said method comprising the steps of;
mounting a resonant circuit to a wheel of the aircraft to which the tire is mounted;
monitoring tire pressure with said resonant circuit;
generating a variable frequency signal;
magnetically coupling the variable frequency signal to the resonant circuit;
inducing a resonant frequency in the resonant circuit by the magnetically coupled variable frequency signal, said resonant frequency representative of a pressure reading;
E-field coupling the resonant frequency from the resonant circuit to a receiver circuit; and
generating a pressure reading from the E-field coupled resonant frequency. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
- said method comprising the steps of;
-
48. A wireless wheel speed sensing system for an aircraft, said system comprising:
-
a wire loop mounted to a wheel of the aircraft and rotating therewith;
an interrogating circuit magnetically coupleable to said rotating wire loop and operative to induce magnetically a current signal in said rotating wire loop, said rotating wire loop generating a corresponding electric field in response to said induced current;
a magnetic field altering apparatus for alternating the magnetic coupling between said wire loop and said interrogating circuit to cause a rate of amplitude modulations of said electric field commensurate with said wheel speed; and
a receiving circuit statically mounted with respect to the rotating wheel, said receiving circuit operative to receive said amplitude modulated electric field and to generate a signal representative of wheel speed. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
-
Specification