Method for operating a tire pressure monitoring system for a motor vehicle, tire pressure monitoring system and motor vehicle

• US 8,978,460 B2
• Filed: 02/21/2012
• Issued: 03/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Automotive GmbH (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Continental Automotive GmbH (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Kretschmann, Matthias
• Primary Examiner(s): ALLEN, ANDRE J
• Application Number:
  US14/001,246
• Publication Number:
  US 20130327136A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,120 Days
• Field of Search: 73146-1468
• US Class Current: 73/146.5
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0415 Automatically identifying wheel mounted units, e.g. after replacement or exchange of wheels
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0416 allocating a corresponding wheel position on vehicle, e.g. front/left or rear/right
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0488 Movement sensor, e.g. for sensing angular speed, acceleration or centripetal force

Abstract

A method of operating a tire pressure monitoring system for a motor vehicle includes detection of a stationary state of the motor vehicle by way of a centrifugal force measured on the wheel side or a vehicle speed measured on the vehicle side, during a time period during which the vehicle speed is zero; detection and vehicle-side storage of an acceleration force in each wheel during the time period, and renewed detection of an acceleration force in each wheel at the end of the time period. The detected acceleration force in each wheel is transmitted to a vehicle-side control device and compared with earlier-stored acceleration forces associated with the respective wheel position. The tire pressure system is initialized following the stationary state of the motor vehicle in the event of a deviation in any of the wheels. There is also provided a tire pressure monitoring system and a motor vehicle.

Claims

1. A method of operating a tire pressure monitoring system for a motor vehicle, the method which comprises:

(a) detecting a stationary state of the motor vehicle by at least one of measuring a centrifugal force on a wheel side or sensing a vehicle speed on a vehicle side for a given time period during which the vehicle speed is defined as being zero;

(b) sensing and storing on the vehicle side at least one acceleration force at each wheel during the given time period;

(c) renewed sensing of at least one acceleration force at each wheel at least at an end of the given time period, transmitting the newly sensed acceleration force at each wheel to a vehicle-side control device, and comparing the newly sensed acceleration force with the previously stored at least one acceleration force associated with the respective wheel position; and

(d) in case a deviation is determined of the newly measured acceleration forces from the previously stored at least one acceleration force for at least one wheel position, initializing the location determining process of the tire pressure monitoring system after the stationary state of the motor vehicle.

2. The method according to claim 1, which comprises measuring the acceleration forces on the wheel side one or more times at chronologically long intervals during the given time period.

3. The method according to claim 1, which comprises continuously measuring the acceleration forces at a high sampling rate.

4. The method according to claim 1, which comprises measuring only acceleration forces in a radial direction relative to the wheel on the wheel side.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein step a) comprises using vehicle-side speed signals and/or centrifugal accelerations measured on the wheel side by an acceleration sensor to detect the stationary state of the motor vehicle.

6. A tire pressure monitoring system for a motor vehicle, the system comprising:

a vehicle-side control device configured to receive wheel-side signals, to evaluate the signals, and to store the signals;

at least one wheel-side acceleration sensor respectively assigned to a given wheel of the motor vehicle and configured to measure acceleration forces acting on the given wheel and to transmit a signal with measured values to said control device;

wherein said control device and said acceleration sensors are configured;

to detect a stationary state of the motor vehicle during a given time period during which a vehicle speed is defined as being zero, by way of a centrifugal force measured on the wheel side or a vehicle-side speed signal;

to sense on the wheel side at least one acceleration force at each wheel during the given time period and to store the at least one acceleration force by said control device on the vehicle side;

to sense at least one further acceleration force at each wheel at least at an end of the given time period and to transmit the further acceleration force to said control device, wherein the further acceleration force is compared with the previously stored at least one acceleration force associated with the respective wheel position; and

in the event of a deviation of the further acceleration forces from the stored acceleration forces, to perform an initialization of the tire pressure system at one wheel position in each case, after the stationary state of the motor vehicle has expired.

7. The tire pressure monitoring system according to claim 6, wherein said acceleration sensor is mounted in or on an inside of a tire and wherein said acceleration sensor is sensitive only to acceleration forces in a radial direction.

8. The tire pressure monitoring system according to claim 6, which further comprises at least one vehicle-side speed sensor configured to sense a vehicle speed for detecting the stationary state of the motor vehicle.

9. The tire pressure monitoring system according to claim 6, wherein said acceleration sensor has a centrifugal acceleration sensor configured to sense a vehicle speed in order to detect the stationary state of the motor vehicle by sensing a centrifugal acceleration of a wheel assigned to the respective said acceleration sensor.

10. A motor vehicle, comprising:

a tire pressure monitoring system according to claim 6; and

a plurality of wheels each having assigned at least one acceleration sensor of the tire pressure monitoring system.