Wheel balancer with pressure adjustment
First Claim
1. A wheel balancer comprising:
- a shaft for receiving a wheel and tire assembly to be balanced;
a drive for rotating the wheel and tire assembly;
a sensor system operatively connected to the shaft for ascertaining imbalance information;
an analysis system responsive to the imbalance information from the sensor system for determining information to correct the ascertained imbalance;
said balancer further including a pressure sensor to read the pneumatic tire pressure of said wheel and tire assembly.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A wheel balancing system for the reduction of vehicle wheel and pneumatic tire assembly vibrations with the capacity to determine and selectively adjust the pneumatic tire'"'"'s pressure simultaneously with wheel balancing. The balancing system includes a drive for rotating the tire and wheel assembly; a sensing system for the selective determination of vibration causation and correction information; a pneumatic system for the adjustment of the pneumatic tire'"'"'s pressure; a control system for instituting the determined vibration corrections and pressure adjustments; as well as a communication system for receiving, transmitting and presenting data or instructions. The sensing system is responsive to the wheel balancing systems operational status, the wheel and tire assembly'"'"'s operational status, wireless or network communications and input from the user. The control system includes automatic provisions for safety, convenience, time efficiency, balancing and pressure adjustment. The pneumatic system, under direction of the control system, institutes an automatic adjustment of the tire'"'"'s pressure; and the communication system includes notification and display provisions.
68 Citations
66 Claims
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1. A wheel balancer comprising:
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a shaft for receiving a wheel and tire assembly to be balanced;
a drive for rotating the wheel and tire assembly;
a sensor system operatively connected to the shaft for ascertaining imbalance information;
an analysis system responsive to the imbalance information from the sensor system for determining information to correct the ascertained imbalance;
said balancer further including a pressure sensor to read the pneumatic tire pressure of said wheel and tire assembly. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
said processor utilizing the sensed temperature information and a provided reference temperature for a target pressure to adapt the target pressure to account for differences between the reference temperature, the internal tire temperature and the ambient temperature thereby allowing immediate pressure adjustment when the internal temperature differs from the reference temperature.
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41. A method for adjusting a pneumatic tire'"'"'s pressure in connection with a wheel balancer for balancing a wheel and tire assembly comprising:
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attaching to the pneumatic tire'"'"'s inflation valve a gas pressurization control system component of the wheel balancer;
inputting to said pressure control system a target pressure for the tire;
determining an initial pressure of the tire and automatically determining if the initial pressure is within a reference amount of the target pressure. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
said information processor utilizing the temperature information to adapt the target pressure to account for differences between the reference temperature, the internal tire temperature and the ambient temperature prior to executing automatic direction of the control system to correct the tire pressure thereby allowing pressure adjustment when the internal temperature differs from the reference temperature.
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55. A wheel balancer comprising:
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a shaft for receiving a wheel and pneumatic tire assembly to be balanced;
a drive for rotating the shaft to thereby rotate the wheel and tire assembly;
a sensor system operatively connected to the shaft for ascertaining imbalance information;
said wheel and tire assembly including an onboard device for registering information of at least one operating parameter, including the pneumatic tire pressure, and said wheel and tire assembly including a wireless transmitter for sending the operating parameter information;
a wheel balancer analysis system, responsive to the imbalance information from the sensor system, for determining information to correct the ascertained imbalance;
said wheel balancer analysis system receiving additional information from the onboard device for registering operating parameters including data reflective of the tire'"'"'s actual pneumatic pressure. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
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62. A wheel balancer comprising:
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a shaft for receiving a pneumatic tire and wheel assembly to be balanced;
a drive for rotating the shaft to thereby rotate the tire and wheel assembly;
a sensor system operatively connected to the shaft for ascertaining imbalance information;
an analysis system responsive to the imbalance information from the sensor system for determining information to correct the ascertained imbalance;
a gas flow control system including a pressure sensor, a pressure source, controllers for the governing of gas flow through the control system and an operative connection for attachment to the inflation valve of an pneumatic tire;
said analysis system including at least one information processor in operational direction of the gas flow system controllers;
at least one said processor operating under at least one stored program to direct the gas flow system to adjust the pneumatic tire'"'"'s pressure to within less than a reference amount of a target pressure upon operative connection to the inflation valve of the pneumatic tire. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64)
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65. A method for adjusting a pneumatic tire'"'"'s pressure in connection with a wheel balancer for balancing a wheel and tire assembly comprising:
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providing a gas pressurization control system component of the wheel balancer;
determining a measured pressure of the tire and a target pressure for the tire;
said gas pressurization control system further determining if the measured pressure of the tire is within a reference amount of the target pressure. - View Dependent Claims (66)
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Specification