TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEM

• US 20140354420A1
• Filed: 03/06/2013
• Published: 12/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Terada, Syoji, Sakaguchi, Kazuo, Shima, Takashi
• Granted Patent: US 9,227,470 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/442
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/04 mounted on the wheel or tyre
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0401 characterised by the type of alarm
• 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: B60C 23/0416 allocating a corresponding wheel position on vehicle, e.g. front/left or rear/right
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0484 Detecting an ongoing tyre inflation
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0488 Movement sensor, e.g. for sensing angular speed, acceleration or centripetal force

Abstract

A tire pressure monitoring system has a first abnormality determination means for determining a state to be normal, the normal state being when the front wheel air pressure is higher than a front wheel warning threshold 400 kPa and the rear wheel tire pressure is higher than a rear wheel warning threshold 240 kPa. The first abnormality determination means also turns on a warning light in the state. A second abnormality determination means turns the warning light to an off state regardless of the determination result of the first abnormality determination means when the warning light is turned off while the vehicle is stopped, the tire pressures of two wheels have been determined to be higher than the front wheel warning threshold 400 kPa, and the tire pressures of the remaining two wheels have been determined to be higher than the rear wheel warning threshold 240 kPa.

Claims

1. A tire pressure monitoring system comprising:

a pressure sensor to detect a tire pressure;

an abnormality determination means that determines a state to be normal in which air pressures of front wheels are higher than a front wheel warning threshold and the air pressures of rear wheels are higher than a rear wheel warning threshold different from the front wheel warning threshold and that determines when the state is abnormal; and

a lamp lighting means that is configured to turn off a warning lamp when the state is determined to be normal and to turn on the warning lamp when the state is abnormal, wherein, at the time of an ignition switch being turned on after a vehicle stop, in response to the state being abnormal as determined by the abnormality determination means, when the warning lamp has been in an off state during the vehicle stop, the tire pressures of two wheels are higher value than a of the front wheel threshold and the rear wheel threshold, and the tire pressures of a remaining two wheels are higher than a lower value of the front wheel threshold and the rear wheel threshold, the warning lamp is configured to be turned off while, when the warning lamp has been in an on state during the vehicle stopped state, a preventive control is performed for preventing the warning light from being lit erroneously.

2. The tire pressure monitoring system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lamp lighting means is configured, during the erroneous lighting preventive control, to light the warning lamp:

when the two wheels the tire pressure of which have been determined higher than the higher value of the front wheel threshold and the rear wheel threshold have been recognized as the wheels for which the higher value of the front wheel threshold and the rear wheel threshold has been set during the vehicle stop.

5. The tire pressure monitoring system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

tire pressure detection means; and

a tire location means which performs a tire location by registering a correspondence between each tire pressure detection means and each wheel position by updating a storage memory, wherein the lamp lighting means is configured to perform erroneous lighting preventive control while the tire location is being performed.

3. A tire pressure monitoring system comprising:

a pressure sensor to detect a tire pressure;

an abnormality determination means that determines a state to be normal in which the air pressures of the front wheels are higher than a front wheel threshold lower than a recommended front wheel air pressure and the air pressures of the rear wheels are higher than a rear wheel threshold lower than a recommended rear wheel air pressure and different from the front wheel threshold and that is configured to determine when the state is abnormal; and

a lamp lighting means that is configured to turn off a warning lamp when the state is determined to be normal and to turn on the warning lamp when the state is determined to be abnormal, wherein, when an ignition switch is turned on after a vehicle stop, in response to the state being abnormal as determined by the abnormality determination means, when the warning lamp is in an off state during the vehicle stop, when the tire pressures of two wheels have been determined to be in the vicinity of the recommended front wheel air pressure and the tire pressures of a remaining two wheels are in the vicinity of the recommended rear wheel air pressure, the warning lamp is configured to be turned off, while, when the warning lamp has been in an on state during the vehicle stop, a preventive control is performed for preventing the warning light from being lit erroneously.

4. The tire pressure monitoring system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the lamp lighting means is configured, during the erroneous lighting preventive control, to light the warning lamp:

when the two wheels the tire pressure of which have been determined in the vicinity of the recommended front wheel tire pressure by the second abnormality determination means have been recognized as the front wheels during the vehicle stop.

6. The tire pressure monitoring system as claimed in claim 3, further comprising:

tire pressure detection means; and

a tire location means which performs a tire location by registering a correspondence between each tire pressure detection means and each wheel position by updating a storage memory, wherein the lamp lighting means is configured to perform erroneous lighting preventive control while the tire location is being performed.