System for transmitting tire condition variables

• US 7,209,032 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2002
• Issued: 04/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Continental Teves AG & Co. OHG (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Continental Teves AG & Co. OHG (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Lohberg, Peter, Fennel, Helmut
• Primary Examiner(s): Pope; Daryl C
• Application Number:
  US10/491,742
• Publication Number:
  US 20040244474A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,670 Days
• Field of Search: 340/445, 340/442, 340/443, 340/444, 340/447
• US Class Current: 340/445
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/043 using transformer type signal transducers, e.g. rotary transformers

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system for transmitting tire condition variables from a transmission device mounted on a motor vehicle to an electronic evaluating or control unit arranged in the area of the vehicle body, which is detachably fastened to a motor vehicle wheel described hereinbelow for providing an electromechanical compound arrangement.

Further, a transmission device is disclosed wherein tire condition variables can be detected, and wherein a coupling device is integrated into the wheel hub (3) and composed of a rotor and a non-rotating stator for producing a field coupling, and its one or more field coupling elements are arranged opposite one another, separated by a narrow air slot (24), and energy and/or signals are coupled by means of electric fields and/or magnetic fields and/or electromagnetic fields.

Still further, the system contains a vehicle wheel equipped with sensors, consisting of wheel rim (1), pneumatic tire (2), and a sensor subassembly (13, 13′, 14, 15, 44) which rotates with the wheel. The wheel has a signal connection that can be connected to the transmission device.

Claims

1. A transmission device for motor vehicles for transmitting signals about tire condition variables from a wheel to an electronic evaluating or control unit arranged in an area of a vehicle body, comprising

at least one sensor subassembly (14, 15, 44) for the detection of tire condition variable, the at least sensor subassembly being arranged in a wheel mounted rotatably at the body by way of wheel hub (3), and

a coupling device integrated into the wheel hub and composed of a rotor and a non-rotating stator for producing a field coupling, and including field coupling elements (20, 22, 27a, 27b, 29a, 29b, 30a, 30b, 34a, 34b, 39a, 39b, 42, 43) arranged opposite each other, isolated by a narrow air slot (24),

wherein the wheel has a tire with a tread area and the at least one sensor subassembly is mounted in the tread area of the tire,

wherein a rotating part of a coupling device for establishing an electrically conductive and detachable connection of the sensor device with a non-rotating part of the coupling device is arranged in the vehicle wheel,

and wherein an energy supply subassembly (13′

, 44) cooperates with the at least one sensor subassembly (15) stationarily fixed in the tread area of the tire by way of a field coupling (16) for the energy supply of the measuring device, wherein the transmission of energy occurs in the way of a transponder.

2. The device as claimed in claim 1,

further comprising plug connectors on the rotor side and the stator side.

3. The device as claimed in claim 1,

further comprising an integrated electromechanical coupling device (6a, 6b) on the wheel hub (3).

4. The device as claimed in claim 1,

further comprising a cable-type electric signal plug coupling (7a, 11, 12) from the wheel hub to a pick-up for measuring data.

5. The device as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the coupling device comprises flat coils, composed of a rotor with rotor winding (20) and a stator with stator winding (22).

6. The device as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the coupling device is constructed with cylinder coils embracing each other, composed of a rotor (25) with an integrated rotor winding and a stator (26) with an integrated stator winding.

7. The device as claimed in claim 1,

wherein stator and rotor of the coupling device are mechanically connected to parts at least one ball bearing (19) installed into the wheel hub.

8. The device as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the base members of rotor and stator are made of an electrically and magnetically non-conductive material.

9. The device as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the coupling device is designed with two single-layer windings (27a, 27b) embedded in ferritic shells (28a, 28b).

10. The device as claimed in claim 9,

wherein the coupling device is designed with multi-layer windings (29a, 29b) directly embedded in the associated base members.

11. The device as claimed in claim 10,

wherein the coupling device is designed with two windings (30a, 30b) embedded in shielding sheet-metal shells (31a, 31b).

12. The device as claimed in claim 11,

wherein the coupling device is designed with two windings (32a, 32b) embedded in shielding sheet-metal shells (33a, 33b) and two additional windings (34a, 34b) embedded in ferritic shells (35a, 35b).

13. The device as claimed in claim 12,

further comprising a dynamo (41) integrated into the coupling device for producing a supply voltage for the operation of the electronic circuit in the sensor subassembly.

14. The device as claimed in claim 13,

wherein the dynamo is made up of a ring of permanent-magnetic segments (37) on the stator side and coil arrangements (38a) with iron cores (38b) on the rotor side.

15. The wheel as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the sensor subassembly comprises a sensor element (14, 15, 44) and a signal transmission subassembly (13, 13′

), wherein the sensor element and the signal transmission subassembly are integrated into a joint element.

16. The wheel as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the sensor subassembly comprises at least one sensor with an electronic circuit for conditioning sensor signals.

17. The wheel as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the at least one sensor subassembly (15) is integrated into the tire.

18. The wheel as claimed in claim 1,

wherein an energy transmission subassembly (13′

, 44) is provided for the energy supply of at least one sensor subassembly (15).

19. The wheel as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the sensor subassembly is supplied with direct current energy by means of a battery integrated into the sensor subassembly.

20. The wheel as claimed in claim 1,

wherein a signal transmission subassembly (13′

, 44) cooperates with a sensor subassembly (15) stationarily fixed in the tread area of the tire by way of a field coupling (16) for the signal transmission of the measuring device.

21. The wheel as claimed in claim 1,

wherein a generator integrated into the sensor subassembly supplies the sensor subassembly (15) with direct current energy.

22. The wheel as claimed in claim 1,

wherein a cable is integrated into the wheel rim having a plug as output towards the coupling device and a wheel rim plug receptacle on the tire side which latter permits an electromechanical plug coupling towards the tire'"'"'s interior and in which the sensor subassembly can be slipped on and fixed in an electromechanically stationary fashion.

23. The wheel as claimed in claim 22,

wherein the wheel rim plug receptacle is stationarily integrated into the wheel rim member in such a fashion that it projects into the tire'"'"'s interior in an air-tight manner.

24. The wheel as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the sensor subassembly produces tire condition signals by means of electronic sensor means and relays the signals by way of the coupling device to another electronic device.

25. The wheel as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the tire condition variables relate to at least one quantity out of a group of quantities consisting of air pressure, air temperature and tire temperature.

26. The wheel as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the tire condition variables relate to at least one quantity out of a group of quantities consisting of the type of tire and operating conditions of the tire.