TIRE-MONITORING SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREFOR

• US 20180022169A1
• Filed: 07/23/2015
• Published: 01/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tirecheck GmbH
• Original Assignee: Alligator Ventilfabrik GmbH (Familie Steiff mit CA. 50 Gesellschaftern)
• Inventors: Markert, Christian
• Granted Patent: US 10,040,324 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/009 having wheels on a trailer
• 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: B60C 23/0483 Wireless routers between wheel mounted transmitters and chassis mounted receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/00 Registering or indicating the working of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C

Abstract

The invention relates to a tire-monitoring system for monitoring a tire air pressure and/or at least one other tire-specific quantity in tires of a vehicle;—comprising a plurality of tire sensors for positioning in the tires of the vehicle;—each tire sensor having at least one sensing device for sensing a tire-specific quantity and a control device that has at least one transmitter for transmitting signals in dependence on the sensed quantity and/or a quantity previously programmed in the control device;—and comprising a router for installing in the vehicle, which router comprises a receiver for receiving the signals of the plurality of tires sensors, a memory for storing the quantities of the tire sensors transmitted by means of the signals, and an interface for the wired or wireless retrieval of the stored quantities;—the router having an electrical power connection, by means of which the router can be connected to a vehicle electrical system for the supply of power to the router. The tire-monitoring system according to the invention is characterized in that the router has an energy store, which provides an electrical power supply when the vehicle electrical system is switched off and which can be charged by means of the electrical power connection.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a tire air pressure and/or at least one other tire-specific variable in tires of a vehicle, in particular of a trailer or semitrailer of a truck, having the following steps:

detecting the tire air pressure and/or the at least one other tire-specific variable using a detection unit of a tire sensor in a tire and transmitting signals as a function of the detected variable by means of a transmitter of a control device of the tire sensor to a router in the vehicle;

receiving the signals transmitted by means of the transmitter by means of a receiver of the router and storing the variables transmitted with the signals in a memory of the router;

wherein

the router is supplied with electrical power for receiving the signals and storing the variables during driving operation of the vehicle via an electrical power terminal from an onboard electrical system of the vehicle;

characterized in that

the router is supplied with electrical power from an energy storage of the router outside the driving operation of the vehicle when the onboard electrical system is turned off, wherein the energy storage is chargeable via the electrical power terminal when the onboard electrical system is turned on, and

at least also when the onboard electrical system is turned off and the router is supplied with electrical power using its energy storage, a mobile communication device is at least indirectly coupled to an interface of the router for the wired or wireless query of the variables stored in the memory, which communication device connects itself via an Internet access to a database having router-specific data and initiates a bidirectional data connection with bidirectional data exchange between the database and the router either via a direct wireless connection between the router and the database or via an indirect connection via the mobile communication device.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, via the bidirectional data connection between the router and the database, variables stored in the memory, in particular the tire air pressure of the various tires and/or at least one limiting value for the tire air pressure and/or for the at least one other tire-specific variable are transmitted to the database and if at least one updated limiting value and/or updated software for the router and/or the control device of the tire sensor is present in the database, the updated limiting value and/or the updated software are transmitted from the database to the router.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, to initiate the bidirectional data exchange, an identification code of the vehicle, in particular the official registration mark of the vehicle, is input or detected using the mobile communication device and transmitted to the database.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, after transmission of the identification code of the vehicle to the database, it establishes the bidirectional data connection to the router or transmits access data, in particular comprising a serial number, of the router to the mobile communication device, using which subsequently a bidirectional data connection is established between the mobile communication device and the router.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, even when the onboard electrical system is turned off, the tire air pressure and/or the at least one other tire-specific variable is detected at regular or irregular predefined intervals using the detection unit of the tire sensor, transmitted by means of the transmitter to the router, and stored in the memory of the router.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, after the bidirectional data connection is established between the router and the database or during or after the coupling of the mobile communication device to the interface of the router, the tire air pressure and/or the at least one other tire-specific variable is detected using the detection unit of the tire sensor, transmitted by means of the transmitter to the router, and stored in the memory of the router.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the data and/or logs of a visual check of the vehicle and/or the tires are input into the mobile communication device or detected thereby and transmitted to the database.

8. A tire monitoring system for monitoring a tire air pressure and/or at least one other tire-specific variable in tires of a vehicle, in particular of a trailer or semitrailer of a truck;

having a plurality of tire sensors for positioning in the tires of the vehicle;

wherein each tire sensor comprises at least one detection unit for detecting a tire-specific variable and a control device having at least one transmitter for transmitting signals as a function of the detected variable;

having a router for installation in the vehicle, which comprises a receiver for receiving the signals of the plurality of tire sensors, a memory for storing variables of the tire sensors transmitted with the signals, and an interface for the wired or wireless query of the stored variables;

wherein

the router has an electrical power terminal, via which the router is connectable to an onboard electrical system for its power supply; and

the router has an energy storage, which provides an electrical power supply when the onboard electrical system is turned off and which is chargeable via the electrical power terminal;

having a mobile communication device, which can be coupled to the interface of the router;

characterized in that

the mobile communication device has an Internet access, via which it can be coupled to a database having router-specific data and is configured to execute a method according to claim 1.

9. The tire monitoring system according to claim 8, characterized in that the database is a web-browser-assisted database.

10. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, to initiate the bidirectional data exchange, an identification code of the vehicle, in particular the official registration mark of the vehicle, is input or detected using the mobile communication device and transmitted to the database.

11. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, even when the onboard electrical system is turned off, the tire air pressure and/or the at least one other tire-specific variable is detected at regular or irregular predefined intervals using the detection unit of the tire sensor, transmitted by means of the transmitter to the router, and stored in the memory of the router.

12. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, even when the onboard electrical system is turned off, the tire air pressure and/or the at least one other tire-specific variable is detected at regular or irregular predefined intervals using the detection unit of the tire sensor, transmitted by means of the transmitter to the router, and stored in the memory of the router.

13. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, even when the onboard electrical system is turned off, the tire air pressure and/or the at least one other tire-specific variable is detected at regular or irregular predefined intervals using the detection unit of the tire sensor, transmitted by means of the transmitter to the router, and stored in the memory of the router.

14. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, after the bidirectional data connection is established between the router and the database or during or after the coupling of the mobile communication device to the interface of the router, the tire air pressure and/or the at least one other tire-specific variable is detected using the detection unit of the tire sensor, transmitted by means of the transmitter to the router, and stored in the memory-of the router.

15. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, after the bidirectional data connection is established between the router and the database or during or after the coupling of the mobile communication device to the interface of the router, the tire air pressure and/or the at least one other tire-specific variable is detected using the detection unit of the tire sensor, transmitted by means of the transmitter to the router, and stored in the memory-of the router.

15-1. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, after the bidirectional data connection is established between the router and the database or during or after the coupling of the mobile communication device to the interface of the router, the tire air pressure and/or the at least one other tire-specific variable is detected using the detection unit of the tire sensor, transmitted by means of the transmitter to the router, and stored in the memory-of the router.

16. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, after the bidirectional data connection is established between the router and the database or during or after the coupling of the mobile communication device to the interface of the router, the tire air pressure and/or the at least one other tire-specific variable is detected using the detection unit of the tire sensor, transmitted by means of the transmitter to the router, and stored in the memory-of the router.

17. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that the data and/or logs of a visual check of the vehicle and/or the tires are input into the mobile communication device or detected thereby and transmitted to the database.

18. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that the data and/or logs of a visual check of the vehicle and/or the tires are input into the mobile communication device or detected thereby and transmitted to the database.

19. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that the data and/or logs of a visual check of the vehicle and/or the tires are input into the mobile communication device or detected thereby and transmitted to the database.

20. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that the data and/or logs of a visual check of the vehicle and/or the tires are input into the mobile communication device or detected thereby and transmitted to the database.