System and Method to Assess and Report the Health of a Tire

• US 20120038492A1
• Filed: 08/11/2010
• Published: 02/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Maggiore, Jeanne C., Majkowski, Wayne R., Followell, David A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,599,044 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/945
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 2200/02 for aircrafts
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0479 Communicating with external units being not part of the vehicle, e.g. tools for diagnostic, mobile phones, electronic keys or service stations
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

The different advantageous embodiments provide an apparatus comprising a number of tires for a vehicle, a number of systems, and a number of processor units. The number of systems is configured to generate data about the number of tires and the vehicle. The number of processor units is configured to monitor the data and manage the health of the number of tires.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a number of tires for a vehicle;

a number of systems configured to generate data about the number of tires and the vehicle; and

a number of processor units configured to monitor the data and manage the health of the number of tires.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is an aircraft.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a user interface, wherein the number of processor units provides information to the user interface to display the information about the number of tires.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the number of processor units is further configured to identify a number of status messages or a number of issues associated with the number of tires.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a tire monitor configured to assess, diagnose, transmit, and report on the health and status of the number of tires.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the tire monitor transmits information about the health and status of the number of tires to a remote location.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the number of processor units continually transmit information about the health and status of the number of tires to a remote location for real-time monitoring of tire health.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the number of systems includes a sensor system configured to communicate with the number of processor units.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the sensor system includes at least one of an accelerometer, wear sensor, pressure transducer, infrared sensor, lidar, camera, laser, rotation counter, identification reader, identification tagging component, thermal sensor, and acoustic sensor.

10. A method for managing the health of a number of tires, the method comprising:

receiving data from a number of systems associated with the number of tires and a vehicle;

determining whether the data received meets pre-defined criteria; and

responsive to a determination that the data does not meet the pre-defined criteria, identifying a number of component issues associated with the data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the number of systems includes a vehicle control system, and wherein the data includes a vehicle speed, attitude, and control inputs.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the number of systems includes a sensor system, and wherein the data is sensor data from a number of sensors configured to detect health and status information about a number of tires.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

generating an alert with at least one of the number of component issues identified, informational messages, and parametric data; and

displaying the alert on a user interface.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the alert is a status message associated with the number of tires.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

storing information about the alert and the data in a number of storage devices.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the number of tires are part of an aircraft.

17. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

responsive to a determination that the data meets the pre-defined criteria, determining whether the data is needed for status or other applications.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

responsive to a determination that the data is needed for the status or the other applications, generating a status message; and

displaying the status message on a user interface.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

responsive to a determination that the data is needed for the status or the other applications, storing information; and

displaying the status message on a user interface.

20. The method of claim 10, wherein the number of systems include a tire monitor, a sensor system, and other aircraft systems.