Method of and apparatus for determining geometrical dimensions of a wheel rim, in particular when fitting and/or removing a motor vehicle tyre
First Claim
1. A method of determining geometrical dimensions of a rim of a motor vehicle wheel by contact-less sensing,wherein a light beam is emitted onto the rim or least part of the rim and a light beam reflected at an impingement point is detected and that the directions of the emitted and reflected light beams are evaluated for determining the position of the respective impingement spot on the rim, andwherein a rim contour along which at least one fitting or removal tool is guided during a fitting or removal of a motor vehicle tyre is contactlessly sensed and a movement of the fitting or removal tool is guided in dependence on the sensed contour without contact with a rim surface.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for and a method of fitting or removing a motor vehicle tyre (4) comprising a rotatably supported wheel receiving device (2) to which the rim (3) is to be fixed, at least one fitting or removal tool (5), a rotary drive device (10) for the wheel receiving device and a sensing device (6), (7), (8) for sensing the radially outer rim contour (12), (14) along which the at least one fitting or removal tool is to be guided during the fitting or removal operation, wherein the sensing device (6), (7), (8) is a sensing device which contact-lessly senses the rim contour and the sensing signals of which are converted into electrical sensing signals, and connected to the sensing device (6), (7), (8) is a control device (9) which evaluates the electrical sensing signals and which controls the at least one fitting or removal tool (5) in the fitting or removal operation in dependence on the sensing signals without contact with the rim surface.
27 Citations
23 Claims
-
1. A method of determining geometrical dimensions of a rim of a motor vehicle wheel by contact-less sensing,
wherein a light beam is emitted onto the rim or least part of the rim and a light beam reflected at an impingement point is detected and that the directions of the emitted and reflected light beams are evaluated for determining the position of the respective impingement spot on the rim, and wherein a rim contour along which at least one fitting or removal tool is guided during a fitting or removal of a motor vehicle tyre is contactlessly sensed and a movement of the fitting or removal tool is guided in dependence on the sensed contour without contact with a rim surface.
-
11. An apparatus that determines geometrical dimensions of a rim of a motor vehicle wheel, the apparatus comprising:
-
a plurality of sensing devices for sensing a rim surface, and a computer-aided evaluation arrangement device for evaluation of electrical sensing signals supplied by the plurality of sensing devices, wherein each of the plurality of sensing devices has at least one light source which emits a light beam from at least one given position in at least one given direction onto the rim surface, and a detector which detects a direction of a light beam reflected by the rim surface, and wherein the evaluation arrangement device is configured to determine the position of an impingement spot sensed by the light beam on the rim surface, from the directions of the emitted light beam and the reflected light beam, the apparatus further comprising; a rotatably supported wheel receiving device to which the rim is to be fixed, at least one fitting or removal tool, a rotary drive device for the wheel receiving device, and a control device connected to the evaluation arrangement device, wherein each of the plurality of sensing devices is configured to contactlessly sense a radially outer rim contour along which the at least one fitting or removal tool is to be guided during a fitting or removal of a motor vehicle tyre, and the control device is configured to control the at least one fitting or removal tool in the fitting or removal operation based on the sensing signals without contact with the rim surface. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
Specification