Method and apparatus for non-destructive detection of tire anomalies
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An impact-acoustic method for testing a tire, comprising:
- providing an actuatable impactor disposed proximate an impact area whereupon the impactor strikes the tire;
providing an acoustic transducer disposed proximate the impact area on a common side of the tire with the impactor, with the acoustic transducer receiving one or more sound waves generated when the impactor strikes the impact area and generating corresponding acoustic signals;
providing a force transducer disposed proximate the impact area for measuring one or more dynamic forces and generating corresponding force signals indicative of impact force, wherein the force transducer is incorporated into the impactor such that the force transducer moves towards the impact area when the impactor strikes the impact area;
providing a tire on a test platform such that the impactor strikes the impact area during actuation thereof;
calculating a plurality of discriminator quantities from the acoustic signals and the force signals; and
comparing calculated discriminator quantities with stored discriminator quantities to determine whether an anomaly is present in the tire.
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Abstract
An impact-acoustic method for testing a tire is provided along with a tire anomaly detection system in which an actuatable impactor is provided with an acoustic transducer and a force transducer. A plurality of discriminator quantities is calculated from acoustic signals and force signals and the calculated discriminator quantities are compared with stored discriminator quantities to determine whether an anomaly is present in the tire.
13 Citations
26 Claims
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1. An impact-acoustic method for testing a tire, comprising:
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providing an actuatable impactor disposed proximate an impact area whereupon the impactor strikes the tire; providing an acoustic transducer disposed proximate the impact area on a common side of the tire with the impactor, with the acoustic transducer receiving one or more sound waves generated when the impactor strikes the impact area and generating corresponding acoustic signals; providing a force transducer disposed proximate the impact area for measuring one or more dynamic forces and generating corresponding force signals indicative of impact force, wherein the force transducer is incorporated into the impactor such that the force transducer moves towards the impact area when the impactor strikes the impact area; providing a tire on a test platform such that the impactor strikes the impact area during actuation thereof; calculating a plurality of discriminator quantities from the acoustic signals and the force signals; and comparing calculated discriminator quantities with stored discriminator quantities to determine whether an anomaly is present in the tire. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. An impact-acoustic method for testing a tire, comprising:
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providing an actuatable impactor disposed proximate an impact area whereupon the impactor strikes the tire; providing an acoustic transducer disposed proximate the impact area on a common side of the tire with the impactor, with the acoustic transducer receiving one or more sound waves generated when the impactor strikes the impact area and generating corresponding acoustic signals; providing a force transducer disposed proximate the impact area for measuring one or more dynamic forces and generating corresponding force signals indicative of impact force; providing a tire on a test platform such that the impactor strikes the impact area during actuation thereof; calculating a plurality of discriminator quantities from the acoustic signals and the force signals; comparing calculated discriminator quantities with stored discriminator quantities to determine whether an anomaly is present in the tire; providing one or more computing devices in communication with at least one of the acoustic transducer and the force transducer, wherein the one or more computing devices includes instructions for performing at least one of transferring data from at least one of the acoustic transducer and the force transducer and controlling one or both of the acoustic transducer and the force transducer either directly or indirectly; wherein the stored discriminator quantities are representative of tire integrity of previously tested tires; and generating an anomaly index from weighted averaging of the calculated discriminator quantities as an indicator of tire integrity. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A tire anomaly detection system, comprising a tire support system comprising a test platform;
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an impact system, comprising; an actuatable impactor disposed proximate an impact area whereupon the impactor strikes a tire placed on the test platform; an acoustic transducer disposed proximate the impact area on a common side of the tire with the impactor, with the acoustic transducer receiving one or more sound waves generated when the impactor strikes the impact area and generating corresponding acoustic signals indicative of the received sound waves; and a force transducer disposed proximate the impact area for measuring one or more dynamic forces and generating corresponding force signals indicative of impact force, wherein the force transducer is incorporated into the impactor such that the force transducer moves towards the impact area when the impactor strikes the impact area; wherein a plurality of discriminator quantities are calculated from the acoustic signals and the force signals, and the calculated discriminator quantities are compared with stored discriminator quantities to determine whether an anomaly is present in the tire. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A tire anomaly detection system, comprising a tire support system comprising a test platform;
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an impact system, comprising; an actuatable impactor disposed proximate an impact area whereupon the impactor strikes a tire placed on the test platform; an acoustic transducer disposed proximate the impact area on a common side of the tire with the impactor, with the acoustic transducer receiving one or more sound waves generated when the impactor strikes the impact area and generating corresponding acoustic signals indicative of the received sound waves; a force transducer disposed proximate the impact area for measuring one or more dynamic forces and generating corresponding force signals indicative of impact force; wherein a plurality of discriminator quantities are calculated from the acoustic signals and the force signals, and the calculated discriminator quantities are compared with stored discriminator quantities to determine whether an anomaly is present in the tire; and one or more computing devices in communication with at least one of the acoustic transducer and the force transducer; wherein each of the calculated discriminator quantities and the stored discriminator quantities includes one or more quantities of peak impact force, impact duration, area under initial contact sound, free vibration energy, accumulative power ratio, power spectrum local peak magnitude and accumulated spectral energy; wherein an anomaly index is calculated from a weighted averaging of the calculated discriminator quantities as an indicator of tire integrity. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A tire anomaly detection system, comprising:
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a tire support structure for supporting a tire during testing; an impactor disposed proximate the tire for impacting the tire at one or more locations; an acoustic transducer disposed proximate the impactor for receiving a sound wave when the impactor contacts the tire; a force transducer for measuring one or more dynamic forces at locations of impactor contact and generating corresponding force signals indicative of impact force, wherein the force transducer is incorporated into the impactor such that the force transducer moves towards the locations of impactor contact when the impactor impacts the tire at one or more locations; and one or more computing devices each having a processor with instructions for calculating a plurality of discriminator quantities from the sound wave and the force signals and instructions for comparing the calculated discriminator values with stored discriminator values indicative of an anomaly in the tire. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
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25. A tire anomaly detection system, comprising:
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a tire support structure for supporting a tire during testing; an impactor disposed proximate the tire for impacting the tire at one or more locations; an acoustic transducer disposed proximate the impactor for receiving a sound wave when the impactor contacts the tire; a force transducer for measuring one or more dynamic forces at locations of impactor contact and generating corresponding force signals indicative of impact force; and one or more computing devices each having a processor with instructions for calculating a plurality of discriminator quantities from the sound wave and the force signals and instructions for comparing the calculated discriminator values with stored discriminator values indicative of an anomaly in the tire; wherein the instructions calculate an anomaly index from a weighted averaging of the calculated discriminator quantities as an indicator of tire integrity. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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Specification