APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DETECTING AN INTERNAL MECHANICAL FAILURE OCCURRING IN A TIRE

• US 20070164853A1
• Filed: 01/18/2007
• Published: 07/19/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yokohama Rubber Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Yokohama Rubber Company Limited
• Inventors: Miyashita, Naoshi, Matsuda, Jun, Kitazaki, Tsuyoshi
• Granted Patent: US 7,673,504 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/438
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2240/04 Tire deformation
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/1725 Using tyre sensors, e.g. Sidewall Torsion sensors [SWT] for tyre pressure and temperature detection B60C23/00

Abstract

An apparatus and method derives a deformation amount of a contact-portion of the tire based on the tire information, the contact-portion being in contact with the ground, and calculates an evaluation value based on the derived deformation amount, and comparing the calculated evaluation value with a reference value to determine whether or not the internal mechanical failure has occurred in the tire.

Claims

1. An apparatus for detecting an internal mechanical failure of a tire that is attached to a wheel of a vehicle while the vehicle is traveling, including:

an information acquiring part for acquiring tire information on the tire during rotating while the vehicle is traveling;

a deriving part for deriving a deformation amount of a contact-portion of the tire based on the tire information, the contact-portion being in contact with the ground;

a calculating part for calculating an evaluation value based on the derived deformation amount; and

a determining part for comparing the calculated evaluation value with a reference value to determine whether or not the internal mechanical failure has occurred in the tire.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information acquiring part acquires acceleration data of a predetermined portion of the tire in time series as the tire information, said acceleration generated when the tire receives an external force from a road surface while the vehicle is traveling, and

wherein the deriving part obtains the deformation amount of the contact-portion by using the acceleration data of the tire in time series acquired in the information acquiring part.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, further including an acceleration sensor placed on an inner surface of the predetermined portion of the tire for measuring the acceleration data of the predetermined portion.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, further including a transmitter provided in the wheel, the transmitter transmitting the acceleration data measured by the acceleration sensor to the information acquiring part by wireless;

and

wherein the information acquiring part includes a receiver for receiving the acceleration data transmitted by wireless.

5. The apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein the deriving part extracts acceleration data due to a deformation of the tire in time series from the acceleration data, and performs a second-order time integration with respect to the acceleration data due to the deformation of the tire to obtain displacement data, thereby calculating the deformation amount of the tire.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the deriving part obtains deformation amounts of the contact-portion in a tire circumferential direction and a tire width direction, and

wherein the calculating part calculates the evaluation value based on the deformation amounts in said two directions.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the calculating part calculates a value represented by using one of X_max/Y_max and Y_max/X_max as the evaluation value, X_max being a maximum value of the deformation amount of the contact-portion in the tire circumferential direction, and Y_max being a maximum value of the deformation amount of the contact-portion in the tire width direction

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the calculating part calculates a value represented by using one of tan⁻

1(X_max/Y_max) and tan<sup>−

1</sup>(Y_max/X_max) as the evaluation value.

9. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the calculating part calculates a value represented by X_max×

Y_max as the evaluation value, X_max being a maximum value of the deformation amount of the contact-portion in the tire circumferential direction, and Y_max being a maximum value of the deformation amount of the contact-portion in the tire width direction

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the deriving part derives the deformation amount of the contact-portion in a tire circumferential direction, and wherein the calculating part calculates the evaluation value based on a maximum value of the deformation amount of the contact-portion in the tire circumferential direction.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the deriving part derives the deformation amount of the contact-portion in a tire width direction, and wherein the calculating part calculates the evaluation value based on a maximum value of the deformation amount of the contact-portion in the tire width direction.

12. A method of detecting an internal mechanical failure of a tire that is attached to a wheel of a vehicle while the vehicle is traveling, including:

an information acquiring step of acquiring tire information on the tire during rotating while the vehicle is traveling;

a deriving step of deriving a deformation amount of a contact-portion of the tire based on the tire information, the contact-portion being in contact with the ground;

a calculating step of calculating an evaluation value based on the derived deformation amount; and

a determining step of comparing the calculated evaluation value with a reference value to determine whether or not the internal mechanical failure has occurred in the tire.