TIRE MONITORING SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20160361958A1
• Filed: 06/15/2015
• Published: 12/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
• Original Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
• Inventors: Steiner, Christoph, Schledz, Ralf-Rainer
• Granted Patent: US 10,449,811 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 2019/004 Tyre sensors other than for detecting tyre pressure
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/04 mounted on the wheel or tyre
• 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

Sensor and method for determining operating states associated with one or more tires. The operating state of the tire can be determined based on one or more measures environmental conditions of the tire(s). For example, a controller can be configured to determine a change in one or more environmental conditions, including determining, for example, a rate-of-change value, a variance value, a standard deviation, or the like. The rate-of-change, variance, and/or standard deviation values can be compared to one or more threshold values to determine the operating state(s) associated with the tire(s). The environmental condition can include, for example, acceleration of the tire, pressure of the tire, and/or temperature of the tire. The operating state can be, for example, a filling state indicative of the tire being inflating, and/or a drive state indicative of the tire rotating about its axle.

Claims

1. A monitoring sensor, comprising:

a sensor configured to measure an environmental condition of a tire and to generate a signal corresponding to the measured environmental condition; and

a controller configured to determine an operating state associated with the tire based on the signal, wherein the determining includes;

determining a variance value of the environmental condition based on the signal; and

comparing the determined variance value to a threshold value to determine the operating state associated with the tire.

2. The monitoring sensor of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a rate-of-change value of the environmental condition,

wherein the comparing further comprises comparing the rate-of-change value to a rate-of-change threshold value.

3. The monitoring sensor of claim 1, wherein the environmental condition is acceleration of the tire and the sensor is an acceleration sensor configured to measure the acceleration of the tire.

4. The monitoring sensor of claim 1, wherein the acceleration sensor is configured to measure a vibration caused by gas entering the tire, and wherein the controller is configured to determine the operating state of the tire based on the measured vibration.

5. The monitoring sensor of claim 4,

wherein the determining the variance value of the environmental condition comprises determining a variance value of the measured vibration;

and

wherein the comparing the determined variance value of the environmental condition comprises comparing the vibration variance value to the threshold value to determine the operating state of the tire.

6. The monitoring sensor of claim 4, wherein the operating state of the tire is a filling state indicative of inflation of the tire.

7. The monitoring sensor of claim 1, further comprising:

a second sensor configured to measure a second environmental condition of the tire and to generate a second signal corresponding to the measured second environmental condition,

wherein the controller is further configured to determine the operating state associated with the tire based on the signal and the second signal.

8. The monitoring sensor of claim 7, wherein the determining of the operating state further comprises:

determining a second variance value of the second environmental condition based on the second signal, and

comparing the second variance value a second threshold value, and

determining the operating state associated with the tire based on the comparison of the variance value to the threshold value and the comparison of the second variance value to the second threshold value.

9. The monitoring sensor of claim 8, wherein the second environmental condition is pressure of the tire and the second sensor is a pressure sensor configured to measure the pressure of the tire.

10. A monitoring method, comprising:

measuring an environmental condition of a tire;

determining a variance of the environmental condition based on the measuring;

comparing the variance to a threshold value; and

determine an operating state associated with the tire based on the comparison.

11. The monitoring method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining a rate-of-change value of the environmental condition; and

wherein the comparing further comprises comparing the rate-of-change value to a variance threshold value.

12. The monitoring method of claim 10, wherein the environmental condition is acceleration of the tire.

13. The monitoring method of claim 10,

wherein the measuring of the environmental condition comprises measuring a vibration caused by gas entering the tire;

and

wherein the determining the operating state of the tire is based on the measured vibration.

14. The monitoring method of claim 10,

wherein determining the variance of the environmental condition comprises determining a variance value of the measured vibration;

and

wherein the comparing comprises comparing the variance value to the threshold value.

15. The monitoring method of claim 10, wherein the operating state of the tire is a filling state indicative of inflation of the tire.

16. The monitoring method of claim 10, further comprising:

measuring a second environmental condition of the tire;

determining a second variance value of the second environmental condition based on the measuring of the second environmental condition;

comparing the second variance value to a second threshold value; and

determining the operating state associated with the tire based on the comparison of the variance value to the threshold value and the comparison of the second variance value to the second threshold value.

17. The monitoring method of claim 16, wherein the second environmental condition is pressure of the tire.

18. A monitoring device, comprising:

a sensor configured to measure vibration generated by inflation of a tire and to generate a vibration signal based on the measured vibration; and

a controller configured to determine a filling state associated with the tire based on the vibration signal.

19. The monitoring sensor of claim 18, wherein the controller is further configured to determine a rate-of-change value or a variance value based on the vibration signal, and wherein the determining includes determining the filing state based on the determined rate-of-change or variance values.

20. The monitoring sensor of claim 18, wherein the vibration generated by inflation of the tire comprises vibration generated by air passing through a valve of the tire.