Method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle

• US 5,541,573 A
• Filed: 10/03/1994
• Issued: 07/30/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sumitomo Rubber Industries Limited
• Original Assignee: Sumitomo Rubber Industries Limited
• Inventors: Jones, David
• Primary Examiner(s): SWARTHOUT, BRENT
• Application Number:
  US08/316,487
• Time in Patent Office: 666 Days
• Field of Search: 340/442, 340/444, 340/671, 340/443, 73/146.5, 73/146.2
• US Class Current: 340/444
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/061 by monitoring wheel speed measuring distance traversed on the ground by vehicles G01C22/00

Abstract

A method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle by comparing the rolling radii of the tires by comparing angular velocity speed signals C1, C2, C3, and C4 from wheel speed sensors, one on each wheel, comprising the steps of: calculating in normal driving an error value DEL'"'"' by processing the four angular velocity speed signals C1-C4 and expressing the result as a percentage of the mean of the sums, DEL'"'"'=(C1+C4-C2-C3)×50/((C1+C2+C3+C4)/4); sensing when the magnitude of the error value DEL'"'"' is in the range 0.05 to 0.5 and when it is carrying out the step of deciding which tire is apparently deflated by comparison of the angular velocity speed signals C1-C4 with each other, calculating a wheel error value DEL'"'"'FAC(W) for each wheel W produced with the deflated tire by the method for DEL'"'"' in normal driving, where DEL'"'"'FAC=(C1+C4-C2-C3)×50/ ((C1+C2+C3=C4)/4) and calculating the wheel factor FAC(W) for each wheel W by dividing the wheel error values DEL'"'"'FAC(W) for the wheels by the wheel error value DEL'"'"'FAC of one of the wheels, and calculating a standardized corrected error value STDDEL by dividing the error value DEL'"'"' by the wheel factor FAC(W) for the wheel having the tire which is apparently deflated and if the value of the standardized corrected error value STDDEL is in the range 0.05 to 0.5 operating a tire warning indicator to indicate that that particular tire is deflated.

Claims

1. A method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle comprising the steps of:

providing one wheel speed sensor for each of the tires;

rotating each tire of the vehicle;

detecting the angular velocity speed of the tires by the wheel speed sensors;

comparing the rolling radii of the tires by means of comparing angular velocity speed signals C1, C2, C3 and C4 from wheel speed sensors on wheels 1-4 at the left-hand front, right-hand front, left-hand rear and right-hand rear wheel positions, respectively, characterized by;

performing a setup procedure comprising driving the vehicle in a straight line at a constant speed with the pressure in the tire of one wheel W reduced by 0.6 bar whilst the other tires are maintained at their scheduled pressure and monitoring the wheel speed values C1-C4;

deriving a wheel error value DEL'"'"'FAC(W) for the wheel W by subtracting the sum of wheel speed values C1 and C4, multiplying the result by 50 and dividing this result by the mean of the four wheel speed values C1 to C4;

repeating the setup procedure to derive the wheel error values DEL'"'"'FAC(W) of all four wheels W,W=1,2,3,4;

deriving a wheel factor FAC(W), W=1,2,3,4 for each wheel by dividing each of the four wheel error values DEL'"'"'FAC(W) W=1,2,3,4 by the wheel error value of one of the wheels;

driving the vehicle normally and repeatedly determining an error value DEL'"'"' by monitoring and processing the four angular velocity speed signals C1 to C4 in a central processing unit (10) which subtracts the sum of the wheel speed values C2 and C3 of the diagonally opposite wheel 2 and 3 from the sum of wheel speed values C1 and C4 of the other pair of diagonally opposite wheels 1 and 4 and multiplies the result by 50 and divides the resultant by the mean of the four wheel speed values C1 and C4;

sensing when the magnitude of the error value DEL'"'"' is in the range of 0.05 to 0.5 and when it is comparing the angular velocity speed signals C1 to C4 of wheels 1 to 4 respectively with each other to determine which wheel has the apparently deflated tire, deriving a standardized corrected error value STDDEL by dividing the error value DEL'"'"' by the wheel factor FAC(W) of that wheel 1 to 4 which has the apparently deflated tire; and

operating a tire warning indicator provided in the vehicle finally to indicate that a particular tire on the vehicle is deflated when the value of the standardized corrected error value of STDDEL is in the range 0.05 to 0.5.

2. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 1 wherein the wheel factor FAC(W) for each of the wheels W is calculated by dividing the wheel error value DEL'"'"'FAC(W) by the wheel error value of wheel 1 DEL'"'"'FAC(1).

3. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 1 wherein the wheel factors FAC(W) are determined by driving the vehicle in a straight line at a constant speed of 120 kph.

4. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 1 comprising the step of calculating a corrected error value DEL by subtracting from the error value DEL'"'"' an error correction factor DELCOR and using the corrected error value DEL in place of error value DEL'"'"' to allow for vehicle characteristics.

5. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 4 wherein the error correction factor DELCOR is proportional to a vehicle related correction factor LAT wherein the correction factor LAT is determined by deriving from the four angular velocity values C1, C2, C3, and C4 monitored during normal driving respective first, second, third and fourth deciding factors MC1, MC2, MC3 MC4 where equating the first deciding factor MC1 to the first wheel speed value C1;

determining the second deciding factor MC2 by dividing the second wheel speed value C2 by the quotient of the sum of wheel speed values C2 and C4 divided by the sum of values C1 and C3, determining the third deciding factor MC3 by dividing the third wheel speed value C3 by the quotient of the sum of the third and fourth values C3 and C4 divided by the sum of values C1 and C2, determining the fourth deciding factor MC4 by multiplying the quotient of the sum of values C2 and C4 divided by the sum of values C1 and C3 by the quotient of the sum of values C3 and C4 divided by the sum of values C1 and C2 and then dividing the fourth wheel speed value C4 by this result;

summing the first, second, third and fourth deciding factors MC1 to MC4 and multiplying this sum by a centralizing constant K having a value in the range 0.250125 to 0.250625 to give a central deciding factor MPSD; and

determining the value of a correction factor LAT by comparing the values of the first, second, third and fourth deciding factors MC1, MC2, MC3 and MC4 with the value of the central deciding factor MPSD and in the even that either or both of the first and second deciding factors MC1 and MC2 are greater than the central deciding factor MPSD equating the value of the correction factor LAT with twice the product of the fourth wheel speed value C4 subtracted from the third wheel speed value C3 and multiplied by the mean of all four wheel speed values C1 to C4 or in the event that either or both of the third or fourth deciding factors MC3 and MC4 are greater than the central deciding factor equating the value of the correction factor LAT with twice the product of the second wheel speed value C2 subtracted from the first wheel speed value C1 multiplied by the mean of all four wheel speed values C1 to C4 or in the event that none of the deciding factors MC1 to MC4 are greater than the central deciding factor MPSD then equating the correction factor LAT with the value obtained by subtracting the sum of the second and fourth wheel speed values C2 and C4 from the sum of first and third wheel speed values C1 and C3 and multiplying the result by the mean of all four wheel speed values C1 to C4.

6. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 5 wherein the error correction factor DELCOR is proportional to a vehicle related constant VFAC, wherein the vehicle related constant VFAC is determined by a setup procedure comprising steering the vehicle around a circle with its four tires inflated to their normal scheduled pressure at a plurality of n constant speeds, monitoring at each of the n constant speeds the values of the four angular velocity signal C1 to C4 to provide n sets of values SV1 to SVn of the four angular velocity values C1 to C4, deriving for each of the n sets of values SV1 to SVn of the four wheel speed values C1 to C4 a setup lateral acceleration value SETUPACCLAT by subtracting the sum of the wheel speed values C2 and C4 from the sum of wheel speed values C1 and C3 multiplying the result by the mean of all four wheel speed values C1 to C4 and dividing by the square of the number KPHFAC of wheel speed signals per wheel speed sensor per unit of speed, deriving for each of the n sets of values SV1 to SVn of the four wheel speed signal values C1 to C4 a vehicle setup error value SETUPDEL by subtracting the sum of the wheel speed values C2 and C3 from the sum of wheel speed values C1 and C4 multiplying the result by 50 and dividing by the mean of all four wheel speed values C1 to C4, determining a linear relationship between the values of setup lateral acceleration SETUPACCLAT and the corresponding setup error values SETUPDEL and setting the value of the vehicle related constant VFAC equal to the linear coefficient.

7. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 6 wherein the first set of values SV1 of the four wheel speeds C1 to C4 measured at a constant speed of 20 kph and subsequent sets of values are measured at increments of 5 kph such that the nth set of values SVN is measured at 20+(5×

(n-1)) kph.

8. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 6 wherein the linear relationship between SETACCLAT and SETUPDEL is determined by plotting graphically the value of vehicle setup error value SETUPDEL against the setup lateral acceleration value SETUPACCLAT for each set of values SVn and setting the value of the vehicle related constant VFAC equal to the slope of the best straight line drawn through the plurality of n graphical points and the origin at (0.0) according to a suitable method.

9. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 8 wherein the best straight line drawn through the graphical points of SETUPDEL plotted against SETUPACCLAT and the origin is drawn according to the Method of Least Squares.

10. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 6 wherein the linear relationship between SETUPDEL and SETUPACCLAT is determined from the calculated values of SETUPDEL and SETUPACCLAT by performing a linear regression calculation of SETUPDEL on SETUPACCLAT and the value of the vehicle related constant VFAC is set equal to the coefficient of the linear term in SETUPACCLAT.

11. The method of detecting a deflated tire according to claim 6 wherein the error correction factor DELCOR is equal to the product of the vehicle related correction factor LAT and the vehicle relate constant VFAC.

12. The method of detecting a deflated tire according to claim 5 wherein the centralizing constant K has a value of 0.25025.

13. The method of detecting a deflated tire according to claim 1 wherein the tire warning indicator is operated when it is sensed that the magnitude of the standardized correction error value STDDEL is in the range 0.05 to 0.2.

14. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 6 wherein KPHFAC is calculated using a unit of speed of 1 kph.

15. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 1 wherein the step of deciding which tire is deflated is performed by:

deriving for each wheel 1 to 4 a deflation indicating factor IMC1, IMC2, IMC3, IMC4 respectively, by setting the deflation indicating factor IMC1 for wheel 1 equal to the wheel speed value C1 of wheel 1;

comparing the value of the first deciding factor MC1 with the value of the central deciding factor MPSD and in the event that the deciding factor MC1 is greater then setting the value of the deflation indicating factor IMC2 of wheel 2 equal to the wheel speed value C2 of wheel 2 divided by half of the quotient of the wheel speed value C4 of wheel 4 divided by the wheel speed value C2 of wheel 2 plus 0.5, setting the value of the deflation indicting factor IMC3 of wheel 3 equal to the wheel speed value C3 of wheel 3 divided by half of the quotient of the wheel speed value C4 of wheel 4 divided by the wheel speed value C2 of wheel 2 plus 0.5, setting the value of the indicating factor IMC4 of wheel 4 equal to the wheel speed value C4 of wheel 4 divided by the product of half of quotient of the wheel speed value C4 of wheel 4 and the wheel speed value C3 of wheel 3 plus 0.5 and half of the quotient of the wheel speed value C4 of wheel 4 and the wheel speed C2 of wheel 2 plus 0.5;

comparing the value of the second deciding factor MC2 with the value of the central deciding factor MPSD and in the event that the deciding factor MC2 is greater then setting the value of the deflation indicating factor IMC2 of wheel 2 equal to the wheel speed value C2 of wheel 2 divided by half of the quotient of the wheel speed value C4 of wheel 4 divided by the wheel speed value C3 of wheel 3 plus 0.5, setting the value of the deflation indicating factor IMC3 of wheel 3 equal to the wheel speed value C3 of wheel 3 divided by half of the quotient of the wheel speed value C3 of wheel 3 divided by the wheel speed value C1 of wheel 1 plus 0.5, setting the value of the indicating factor IMC4 of wheel 4 equal to the wheel speed value C4 of wheel 4 divided by the product of half of quotient of the wheel speed value C4 of wheel 4 and the wheel speed value C3 of wheel 3 plus 0.5 and half of the quotient of the wheel speed value C3 of wheel 3 and the wheel speed C1 of wheel 1 plus 0.5;

comparing the value of the third factor MC3 with the value of the central deciding factor MPSD and in the event that the deciding factor MC3 is greater then setting the value of the deflation indicating factor IMC2 of wheel 2 equal to the wheel speed value C2 of wheel 2 divided by half of the quotient of the wheel speed value C2 of wheel 2 divided by the wheel speed value C1 of wheel 1 plus 0.5, setting the value of the deflation indicating factor IMC3 of wheel 3 equal to the wheel speed value C3 of wheel 3 divided by half of the quotient of the wheel speed value C4 of wheel 4 divided by the wheel speed value C2 of wheel 2 plus 0.5, setting the value of the indicating factor IMC4 of wheel 4 equal to the wheel speed value C4 of wheel 4 divided by the product of half of quotient of the wheel speed value C2 of wheel 2 and the wheel speed value C1 of wheel 1 plus 0.5 and half of the quotient of the wheel speed value C4 of wheel 4 and the wheel speed C2 of wheel 2 plus 0.5;

comparing the value of the fourth factor MC4 with the value of the central deciding factor MPSD and in the event that the deciding factor MC4 is greater then setting the value of the deflation indicating factor IMC2 of wheel 2 equal to the wheel speed value C2 of wheel 2 divided by half of the quotient of the wheel speed value C2 of wheel 2 divided by the wheel speed value C1 of wheel 1 plus 0.5, setting the value of the deflation indicating factor IMC3 of wheel 3 equal to the wheel speed value C3 of wheel 3 divided by half of the quotient of the wheel speed value C3 of wheel 3 divided by the wheel speed value C1 of wheel 1 plus 0.5, setting the value of the indicating factor IMC4 of wheel 4 equal to the wheel speed value C4 of wheel 4 divided by the product of half of quotient of the wheel speed value C2 of wheel 2 and the wheel speed value C1 of wheel 1 plus 0.5 and half of the quotient of the wheel speed value C3 of wheel 3 and the wheel speed C1 of wheel 1 plus 0.5;

comparing the values of the first, second, third and fourth deciding factors MC1, MC2, MC3 and MC4 respectively with the value of the central deciding factor MPSD and in the event that none of the deciding factors is greater then setting the value of the deflation indicating factor IMC2 of wheel 2 equal to the wheel speed value C2 of wheel 2 divided by half of the quotient of the sum of wheel speed values C2 and C4 divided by the sum of wheel speed values C1 and C3 plus 0.5, setting the value of the deflation indicating factor IMC3 of wheel 3 equal to the wheel speed value C3 of wheel 3 divided by half of the quotient of the sum of the wheel speed values C3 and C4 divided by the sum of the wheel speed values C1 and C2 plus 0.5, setting the value of the deflation indicating factor IMC4 of wheel 4 equal to the wheel speed value C4 of wheel 4 by the product of half of the quotient of the sum of wheel speed values C3 and C4 divided by the sum of wheel speed values C1 and C2 plus 0.5 and half of the quotient of the sum of wheel speed values C2 and C4 divided by the sum of wheel speed values C1 and C3 plus 0.5; and

determining the wheel having the numerically greater deflation indicating factor, and producing a deflation warning signal for the said wheel.

16. A deflated tire detector comprising:

a plurality of speed sensors each provided for a corresponding tire of a plurality of tires on a vehicle, each of said speed sensors outputting an angular velocity of said corresponding tire;

means for comparing rolling radii of said tires including means for calculating an error value DEL'"'"' where

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">DEL'"'"'=(C1+C4-C2-C3)×

50/((C1+C2+C3+C4)/4);

where C1, C2, C3 and C4 are angular velocity output by said speed sensors for left-hand front, right-hand front, left-hand rear and right-hand rear tires of the vehicle, respectively,

means for calibratingly determining a wheel factor FAC(W) W=1,2,3,4 by a setup procedure comprising driving the vehicle in a straight line at constant speed and reducing in turn the pressure in each tire by 0.6 bar while maintaining the other tires at their schedule pressure,

means for calculating a wheel error value DEL'"'"'FAC(W) for each wheel W produced with the deflated tire by the method for DEL'"'"' in normal driving, where

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">DEL'"'"'FAC=(C1+C4-C2-C3)×

50/((C1+C2+C3+C4)/4), and

means for determining the wheel factor FAC(W) for each wheel W by dividing the wheel error values DEL'"'"'FAC(W) for the wheels by the wheel error value DEL'"'"'FAC of one of the wheels, namely

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">FAC(W)=DEL'"'"'FAC(W)/DEL'"'"'FAC(1), or

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">FAC(W)=DEL'"'"'FAC(W)/DEL'"'"'FAC(2), or

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">FAC(W)=DEL'"'"'FAC(W)/DEL'"'"'FAC(3), or

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">FAC(W)=DEL'"'"'FAC(W)/DEL'"'"'FAC(4);

means for determining a standardized corrected error signal STDDEL by dividing the error value DEL'"'"' by the wheel factor FAC(W) for the wheel having the tire which is apparently deflated;

means for determining when a magnitude of said standardized corrected error signal STDDEL is in the range 0.05 to 0.5 and for outputting a warning signal in response thereto; and

a warning indicator, receiving said warning signal and providing a warning in accordance therewith.

17. The deflated tire detector according to claim 16, wherein said warning indicator is a light in the vehicle.

18. The deflated tire detector according to claim 16, wherein said warning indicator comprises a plurality of warning indicators, corresponding to said plurality of speed sensors.

19. The deflated tire detector according to claim 16, wherein each of said speed sensors comprises a toothed wheel device.

20. The deflated tire detector according to claim 16, wherein said means for determining said correction factor LAT comprises:

means for calculating, from the four angular velocity values C1, C2, C3 and C4, respective first, second, third and fourth deciding factors MC1, MC2, MC3, MC4 where

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">MC1=C1

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">MC2=C2/[(C2+C4)/(C1+C3)]

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">MC3=C3/[(C3+C4)/(C1+C2)]

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">MC4=C4/[[(C2+C4)/(C1+C3)]×

[(C3+C4)/(C1+C2)]];

means for summing the four deciding factors and outputting a sum;

means for multiplying said sum be a centralizing constant (K) to give a central deciding factor MPSD; and

means for selecting the correction factor LAT as follows, if the first or second deciding factor MC1 or MC2 is greater than the central deciding factor MPSD then

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">LAT=2×

(C3-C4)×

(C1+C2+C3+C4)/4,

if the third or fourth deciding factor MC3 or MC4 is greater than the central deciding factor MPSD then

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">LAT=2×

(C1-C2)×

(C1+C2+C3+C4)/4,

or if none of the deciding factors MC1, MC2, MC3 or MC4 is greater than the central deciding factor MPSD then

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">LAT=(C1+C3-C2-C4)×

(C1+C2+C3+C4)/4.

21. The deflated tire detector according to claim 20, wherein the centralizing constant K has a value in the range 0.250125 to 0.250625.

22. The deflated tire detector according to claim 20, wherein the centralizing constant K has a value in the range 0.250250.

23. The deflated tire detector according to claim 20, further comprising means for calculating a deflation indicating factor IMC1, IMC2, IMC3, IMC4 for each wheel respectively and means for selecting the wheel having the numerically greater deflation indicating factor as being deflated, where the deflation indicating factors are calculated as follows:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">IMC1=C1, then

if the first deciding factor MC1 is greater than the central deciding factor MPSD then

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">IMC2=C2/[((C4/C3)/2)+0.5]

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">IMC3=C3/[((C4/C2)/2)+0.5]

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">IMC4=C4/[[((C4/C3)/2)+0.5]×

[((C4/C2)/2)+0.5]];

if the second deciding factor MC2 is greater than the central deciding factor MPSD then

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">IMC2=C2/[((C4/C3)/2)+0.5]

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">MC3=C3/[((C3/C1)/2)+0.5]

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">IMC4=C4/[[((C4/C3)/2)+0.5]×

[((C3/C1)/2)+0.5]];

if the third deciding factor MC3 is greater than the central deciding factor MPSD then

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">IMC2=C2/[((C2/C1)/2)+0.5]

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">IMC3=C3/[((C4/C2)/2)+0.5]

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">IMC4=C4/[[((C2/C1)/2)+0.5]×

[((C4/C2)/2)+0.5]];

if the fourth deciding factor MC4 is greater than the central deciding factor MPSD then

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">IMC2=C2/[((C2/C1)/2)+0.5]

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">IMC3=C3/[((C3/C1)/2)+0.5]

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">IMC4=C4/[[((C2/C1)/2)+0.5]×

[((C3/C1)/2)+0.5]];

or if none of the deciding factors MC1, MC2, MC3, MC4 is greater than the central deciding MPSD factor then

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">IMC2=C2/[(((C2+C4)/(C1+C3))/2)+0.5]

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">IMC3=C3/[(((C3+C4)/(C1+C2))/2)+0.5]

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">IMC4=C4/[[(((C3+C4)/(C1+C2))/2)+0.5]×

[(((C2+C4)/(C1+C3))/2)+0.5]].

24. A method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle by comparing the rolling radii of the tires by means of comparing angular velocity speed signals C1, C2, C3 and C4 from wheel speed sensors on wheels 1-4 at the left-hand front, right-hand front, left-hand rear and right-hand rear wheel positions respectively, comprising the steps of:

calculating an error value DEL'"'"' in normal driving by processing the four angular velocity speed signals C1-C4 in a central process unit (10) which subtracts the sum of the signals from one pair of diagonally opposite wheels from the sum of the signals from the other pair of diagonally opposite wheels and expressing the result as a percentage of the mean of the sums

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">DEL'"'"'=(C1+C4-C2-C3)×

50/((C1+C2+C3+C4)/4);

sensing when the magnitude of the error value DEL'"'"' is in the range 0.05 to 0.5 and when it is carrying out a step of deciding which tire is apparently deflated by comparison of the angular velocity speed signals C1-C4 with each other, a calibration step of determining for each wheel of the vehicle a wheel factor FAC(W) W=1,2,3,4 by a setup procedure comprising driving the vehicle in a straight line at constant speed and reducing in turn the pressure in each tire by 0.6 bar while maintaining the other tires at their scheduled pressure, calculating a wheel error value DEL'"'"'FAC(W) for each wheel W produced with the deflated tire by the method for DEL'"'"' in normal driving, where

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">DEL'"'"'FAC=(C1+C4-C2-C3)×

50/((C1+C2+C3+C4)/4)

and calculating the wheel factor FAC(W) for each wheel W by dividing the wheel error values DEL'"'"'FAC(W) for the wheels by the wheel error value DEL'"'"'FAC of one of the wheels, namely

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">FAC(W)=DEL'"'"'FAC(W)/DEL'"'"'FAC(1), or

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">FAC(W)=DEL'"'"'FAC(W)/DEL'"'"'FAC(2), or

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">FAC(W)=DEL'"'"'FAC(W)/DEL'"'"'FAC(3), or

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">FAC(W)=DEL'"'"'FAC(W)/DEL'"'"'FAC(4)

so that the four wheel factors are related to each other and in normal operation of the vehicle a step of calculating a standardized corrected error value STDDEL by dividing the error value DEL'"'"' by the wheel factor FAC(W) for the wheel having the tire which is apparently deflated and, if the value of the standardized corrected error value STDDEL is in the range 0.05 to 0.5, operating a tire warning indicator provided in the vehicle finally to indicate that that particular tire on the wheel on the vehicle is deflated.

25. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 24 wherein that the wheel factor FAC(W) for each of the wheels W is calculated by dividing the wheel error value DEL'"'"'FAC(W) by the wheel error value of wheel 1 DEL'"'"'FAC(1).

26. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 24 wherein the wheel factors FAC(W) are determined by driving the vehicle in a straight line at a constant speed of 120 kph.

27. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 24 comprising the step of calculating a corrected error value DEL by subtracting from the error value DEL'"'"' an error correction factor DELCOR, namely

28. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 27 wherein the error correction factor DELCOR is proportional to a vehicle related correction factor LAT wherein the correction factor LAT is determined by calculating from the four angular velocity values C1, C2, C3, and C4 respective first, second, third and fourth deciding factors MC1, MC2, MC3, MC4 where

29. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 28 wherein the error correction factor DELCOR is proportional to a vehicle related constant VFAC, wherein the vehicle related constant VFAC is determined by a setup procedure comprising steering the vehicle around a circle with its four tires inflated to their normal scheduled pressure at a plurality of n constant speeds, monitoring at each of the n constant speeds the values of the four angular velocity signal C1 to C4 to provide n sets of values SV1 to SVn of the four angular velocity values C1 to C4, calculating for each set of values SV1 to SVn of C1-C4 the setup lateral acceleration value SETUPACCLAT where

30. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 29 wherein the first set of values SV1 of the four wheel speeds C1 to C4 is measured at a constant speed of 20 kph and subsequent sets of values are measured at increments of 5 kph such that the nth set of values SVn is measured at 20+(5×

(n-1)) kph.

31. The method of detecting a deflated tire according to claim 29 wherein the error correction factor DELCOR is equal to the product of the vehicle related correction factor LAT and the vehicle related constant VFAC.

32. The method of detecting a deflated tire according to claim 28 wherein the centralizing constant K has a value in the range 0.250125 to 0.250625.

33. The method of detecting a deflated tire according to claim 28 wherein the centralizing constant K has a value of 0.25025.

34. The method of detecting a deflated tire according to claim 24 wherein the tire warning indicator is operated when it is sensed that the magnitude of the standardized corrected error value STDDEL is in the range 0.05 to 0.2.

35. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 29 wherein KPHFAC is calculated using a unit of speed of 1 kph.

36. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 24 wherein the step of deciding which tire is deflated is performed by calculating a deflation indicating factor IMC1-IMC4 for each wheel 1-4 respectively wherein

37. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 28 wherein the error correction factor DELCOR is proportional to a vehicle related constant VFAC, wherein the vehicle related constant VFAC is determined by a setup procedure comprising steering the vehicle around a circle with its four tires inflated to their normal scheduled pressure at a plurality of n constant speeds, monitoring at each of the n constant speeds the values of the four angular velocity signal C1 to C4 to provide n sets of values SV1 to SVn of the four angular velocity values C1 to C4, calculating for each set of values SV1 to SVn of C1-C4 the setup lateral acceleration value SETUPACCLAT where

38. The method of detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle according to claim 37 wherein the best straight line drawn through the graphical points of SETUPDEL plotted against SETUPACCLAT and the origin is drawn according to the Method of Least Squares.