Wireless tire pressure and/or wheel speed sensing system for aircraft
First Claim
1. A wireless tire pressure and wheel speed sensing system for an aircraft, said system comprising:
- a resonant circuit mounted to a wheel of the aircraft for monitoring the pressure of a tire mounted to said wheel, said resonant circuit comprising a wire loop of a predetermined inductance;
an interrogating circuit magnetically coupleable to said resonant circuit and operative to induce magnetically a variable frequency current in the wire loop of said resonant circuit, said resonant circuit generating a corresponding variable frequency electric field in response to said induced current, said variable frequency electric field including a resonant frequency commensurate with the pressure of said tire;
a magnetic field altering apparatus for alternating the magnetic coupling between said wire loop and said interrogating circuit to cause a rate of amplitude modulations of said variable frequency electric field commensurate with said wheel speed;
a receiving circuit E-field coupleable to said resonant circuit and operative to receive said amplitude modulated variable frequency electric field of said resonant circuit and to generate a signal representative thereof;
a first processing circuit coupled to said receiving circuit for processing said signal to generate a pressure reading of said tire based on the resonant frequency thereof; and
a second processing circuit coupled to said receiving circuit for processing said signal to generate a wheel speed reading based on the rate of amplitude modulations thereof.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A wireless tire pressure sensing system for an aircraft comprises: dual resonant circuits mounted to a wheel of the aircraft, each resonant circuit comprising: a variable capacitance sensor and a wire loop of a predetermined inductance coupled thereto, one capacitance sensor for monitoring the pressure of a tire mounted to the wheel, and the other capacitance sensor operative as a reference to the one capacitance sensor; an interrogating circuit magnetically coupleable to the dual resonant circuits and operative to induce magnetically a variable frequency current in the dual resonant circuits, the one resonant circuit responding to the induced current with an E-field signal at a first resonant frequency commensurate with the capacitance of the one sensor, and the other resonant circuit responding to the induced current with an E-field signal at a second resonant frequency commensurate with the capacitance of the other sensor; a receiving circuit E-field coupleable to the dual resonant circuits and operative to receive the E-field signals at the first and second resonant frequencies and to generate first and second signals representative thereof, and a processing circuit coupled to the receiving circuit for processing the first and second signals to generate a compensated pressure reading of the tire. The pressure sensing system may be modified to provide and/or include wheel speed sensing.
43 Citations
22 Claims
-
1. A wireless tire pressure and wheel speed sensing system for an aircraft, said system comprising:
-
a resonant circuit mounted to a wheel of the aircraft for monitoring the pressure of a tire mounted to said wheel, said resonant circuit comprising a wire loop of a predetermined inductance; an interrogating circuit magnetically coupleable to said resonant circuit and operative to induce magnetically a variable frequency current in the wire loop of said resonant circuit, said resonant circuit generating a corresponding variable frequency electric field in response to said induced current, said variable frequency electric field including a resonant frequency commensurate with the pressure of said tire; a magnetic field altering apparatus for alternating the magnetic coupling between said wire loop and said interrogating circuit to cause a rate of amplitude modulations of said variable frequency electric field commensurate with said wheel speed; a receiving circuit E-field coupleable to said resonant circuit and operative to receive said amplitude modulated variable frequency electric field of said resonant circuit and to generate a signal representative thereof; a first processing circuit coupled to said receiving circuit for processing said signal to generate a pressure reading of said tire based on the resonant frequency thereof; and a second processing circuit coupled to said receiving circuit for processing said signal to generate a wheel speed reading based on the rate of amplitude modulations thereof. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. A wireless wheel speed sensing system for an aircraft, said system composing:
-
a wire loop mounted to a wheel of the aircraft and rotating therewith; an interrogating circuit magnetically coupleable to said rotating wire loop and operative to induce magnetically a current signal in said rotating wire loop, said rotating wire loop generating a corresponding electric field in response to said induced current; a magnetic field altering apparatus for alternating the magnetic coupling between said wire loop and said interrogating circuit to cause a rate of amplitude modulations of said electric field commensurate with said wheel speed; and a receiving circuit statically mounted with respect to the rotating wheel, said receiving circuit operative to receive said amplitude modulated electric field and to generate a signal representative of wheel speed. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
Specification