Device for detecting force acting on a tire

• US 20070073494A1
• Filed: 11/28/2006
• Published: 03/29/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamamoto, Takayuki, Mizutani, Yasuji, Isono, Hiroshi
• Granted Patent: US 7,603,247 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/41
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2240/03 Tire sensors
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/172 Determining control parameters used in the regulation, e.g. by calculations involving measured or detected parameters B60T8/17551 takes precedence

Abstract

A device for detecting force acting on a tire includes a detector provided with respect to vehicle wheels for detecting force acting on a tire and a determining portion for determining a detection abnormality of force acting on the tire by the detector based on at least either the detected value or a temporal changing tendency of the detected value.

Claims

1. A device for detecting force acting on a tire, which is mounted in a vehicle with plural vehicle wheels in which each vehicle wheel is configured by mounting the tire on the periphery of a disc wheel, comprising:

at least one detector for detecting the force acting on a tire, which is provided on at least one of the plural vehicle wheels; and

a first abnormality determining portion determining whether detection of vertical force by the detector is abnormal based on vertical force rather than horizontal force detected by the detector.

2. The device for detecting force acting on a tire according to claim 1, wherein:

the device includes a second abnormality determining portion determining whether detection of horizontal force by the detector is abnormal based on vertical force and horizontal force detected by the detector if detection of vertical force by the detector has been determined to be normal by the first abnormality determining portion.

3. A device for detecting force acting on a tire, which is mounted in a vehicle with plural vehicle wheels in which a vehicular state variable sensor detecting a state variable of the vehicle is provided and each vehicle wheel is configured by mounting the tire on the periphery of a disc wheel, comprising:

at least one detector for detecting force acting on the tire, which is provided on at least one of the plural vehicle wheels, and

at least either a sensor determining portion determining a detection abnormality of the vehicular state variable sensor with the use of a detected value of the detector or a sensor zero-point correcting portion correcting a zero point of the vehicular state variable sensor with the use of the detected value of the detector.

4. The device for detecting force acting on a tire according to claim 3, wherein:

the vehicular state variable sensor has a function of detecting a physical quantity relating to the force acting on a tire as the vehicular state variable, and the sensor zero-point correcting portion includes a setting portion setting the zero point of the vehicular state variable sensor in a position indicating that the vehicular state variable is 0 if the force acting on a tire detected by the detector is 0.

5. The device for detecting force acting on a tire according to claim 3, wherein:

the vehicular state variable sensor has a function of detecting a physical quantity relating to the force acting on a tire as the vehicular state variable, and the sensor zero-point correcting portion includes a setting portion setting the zero point of the vehicular state variable sensor based on an error between an ideal value of the physical quantity detected by the vehicular state variable sensor and the force acting on a tire detected by the detector if the force acting on a tire is equal to a reference value which is unequal to 0.