Tire condition monitoring system

• US 8,686,846 B2
• Filed: 06/09/2010
• Issued: 04/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yokohama Rubber Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Yokohama Rubber Company Limited
• Inventors: Kanenari, Daisuke, Araki, Yasuhiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Bugg, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Labbees, Edny
• Application Number:
  US12/796,885
• Publication Number:
  US 20100328058A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,392 Days
• Field of Search: 340/447, 340/442, 340/425.5, 152/151, 152/450, 731/465, 731/463
• US Class Current: 340/447
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/007 having multiple wheels arranged side by side
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/008 having wheels on more than two axles
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0401 characterised by the type of alarm
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0416 allocating a corresponding wheel position on vehicle, e.g. front/left or rear/right
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 152/10 Tires, resilient

Abstract

The tire condition of each tire of a vehicle is detected, which information is transmitted by means of electromagnetic waves from the tire condition acquisition devices to a monitoring device that receives the electromagnetic waves transmitted from tire condition acquisition devices via a receiving antenna, which monitoring device contains means for displaying the electric field intensity of the electromagnetic waves transmitted from the tire condition acquisition devices. Thus, the electric field intensity at a mounting position can easily be determined when mounting the receiving antenna, enabling easy discovery of the optimal location for mounting the receiving antenna.

Claims

1. A tire condition monitoring system, comprising:

a condition detector for detecting a predetermined tire condition, provided on each tire of a vehicle;

a plurality of tire condition acquisition devices having a transmission device for transmitting the detected tire condition information by electromagnetic waves;

receiving antenna for receiving the electromagnetic waves transmitted from each of the tire condition acquisition devices, wherein the receiving antenna is centrally located on the vehicle and wherein the receiving antenna comprises a plurality of receiving antennas fewer in number than the plurality of tire condition acquisition devices; and

a monitoring device, which is connected by a cable to the receiving antenna, for receiving the tire condition information transmitted from each of the tire condition acquisition devices and displaying the tire condition information for each tire;

wherein an electric field intensity display is provided for displaying an electric field intensity of the electromagnetic waves transmitted from each of the tire condition acquisition devices,

wherein the electric field intensity display switches between display of electric field intensities for different tires of the vehicle, and

the electric field intensity display is configured to simultaneously display the electric field intensity and text indicating both an air pressure and temperature of a selected tire.

2. The tire condition monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the electric field intensity display displays the electric field intensity using either numbers that express a value of the electric field intensity or a diagram that changes in relation to the value of the electric field intensity.

3. The tire condition monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the electric field intensity display simultaneously displays on a single screen each of the electric field intensities of the electromagnetic waves transmitted from the plurality of tire condition acquisition devices.

4. The tire condition monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the electric field intensity display simultaneously displays, using text, the electric field intensities of electromagnetic waves transmitted from the plurality of tire condition acquisition devices on a screen that schematically displays positions of a plurality of tires mounted on the vehicle.

5. The tire condition monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the electric field intensity display can operate under a condition of being connected by a cable to the receiving antenna and is constructed so as to be portable while still in operating mode.

6. The tire condition monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein each of the tire condition acquisition devices is associated with a unique identification information which is stored in a memory of the monitoring device for recognition when the tire condition information transmitted from each of the tire condition acquisition devices, the tire condition information including the unique identification information.

7. The tire condition monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the electric field intensity display is configured to represent a strength of the electric field intensity according to color.

8. The tire condition monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the condition detector is embedded inside tires of the vehicle and is selected to withstand vulcanization heat when vulcanizing the tires.

9. The tire condition monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the electric field intensity display is configured to display a tire number representing the tire associated with the displayed electric field intensity.

10. The tire condition monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the electric field intensity display is configured to display the electric field intensity as a graph or an image.

11. The tire condition monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the electric field intensity display is configured to display the electric field intensity as text or numerical values that are a fixed fraction of an actual value.

12. The tire condition monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein a position of the receiving antenna is adjustable.

13. The tire condition monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the receiving antenna comprises a plurality of receiving antennas for receiving a signal from an individual of the tires and the monitoring device is configured to use a signal from the receiving antenna with a greatest strength signal intensity.

14. A tire condition monitoring system, comprising:

a condition detector for detecting a tire condition, provided on each tire of a vehicle;

a plurality of tire condition acquisition devices on each tire having a transmission device for transmitting the detected tire condition information as signals by electromagnetic waves;

a plurality of receiving antennas for receiving the electromagnetic waves transmitted from each of the tire condition acquisition devices, respectively, wherein the plurality of receiving antenna are centrally located on the vehicle and fewer in number than the plurality of tire condition acquisition devices with the transmission devices; and

a monitoring device, which is connected by a cable to the plurality of receiving antennas, respectively, for receiving the tire condition information transmitted from each of the tire condition acquisition devices and simultaneously displaying the tire condition information for each tire, the monitoring device being configured to determine an electric field intensity of the signals and to use an individual signal with a greatest electric field intensity from amount the signal received by the plurality of receiving antennas for each of the tire acquisition devices;

wherein an electric field intensity display is provided for displaying an electric field intensity of the electromagnetic waves transmitted from each of the tire condition acquisition devices and the electric field intensity display displays the greatest electric field intensity of the individual signal from among the electromagnetic waves received by the plurality of receiving antennas when displaying the electric field intensity of the electromagnetic waves received from each of the tire condition acquisition devices.

15. A tire condition monitoring system, comprising:

a condition detector for detecting a predetermined tire condition, provided on each tire of a vehicle;

a plurality of tire condition acquisition devices having a transmission device for transmitting the detected tire condition information by electromagnetic waves;

a receiving antenna for receiving the electromagnetic waves transmitted from the tire condition acquisition devices; and

a monitoring device, which is connected by a cable to the receiving antenna, for receiving the tire condition information transmitted from each of the tire condition acquisition devices and displaying the tire condition information for each tire;

wherein an electric field intensity display is provided which displays the position of the tires mounted on the vehicle as an image and an electric field intensity of the electromagnetic waves transmitted from each of the tire condition acquisition devices,

the electric field intensity display switches between display of electric field intensities for different tires of the vehicle,

the electric field intensity display displays a position corresponding to one of the tires elected by the switching, with increased brightness on the image as compared with positions for other of the tires, and

the electric field intensity display simultaneously displays at least one of the electric field intensity, an air pressure and a temperature of the tire elected by the switching, on the same display screen at a different position from the image.