Target pressure learn strategy for vehicular tire pressure systems

• US 6,246,317 B1
• Filed: 02/26/1999
• Issued: 06/12/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Dana Heavy Vehicle Systems Group LLC (Dana, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dana Corporation (Dana, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fortune, G. Clark, Schultz, Gary R., Waraksa, Thomas J., Pickornik, William
• Primary Examiner(s): Trieu, Van T.
• Application Number:
  US09/258,622
• Time in Patent Office: 837 Days
• Field of Search: 340/442, 340/445, 340/447, 340/448, 731/464, 731/465, 731/468, 200/61.22, 200/61.25, 152/415, 152/416, 152/417
• US Class Current: 340/447
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/007 having multiple wheels arranged side by side
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/009 having wheels on a trailer
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0416 allocating a corresponding wheel position on vehicle, e.g. front/left or rear/right

Abstract

A method of establishing a target pressure for a vehicle tire for storage in a receiver having a microcontroller where a sensor/transmitter combination is mounted on each wheel. After each tire is inflated to the target pressure the sensor/transmitters are sequentially triggered to send an identification code and a target pressure signal to the receiver for storage in memory. In an alternate embodiment, the target tire pressures are statistically averaged and a warning signal is generated if a single tire target pressure deviates a predetermined amount from the statistical average.

Claims

1. A method for establishing the target pressure of each tire in a receiver memory, in a vehicular tire pressure monitoring system having a plurality of sensor/transmitters for sensing pressure and the receiver operable in a program mode, with one sensor/transmitter associated with each tire of the vehicle and having its own unique identification code, the method comprising the steps of:

setting each tire on the vehicle to a desired target pressure;

causing the receiver to operate in a program mode;

triggering each sensor/transmitter to transmit an identification code and a target pressure signal representing the desired target pressure of the tire associated with that sensor/transmitter;

storing the target pressure signal in the receiver; and

causing the receiver to exit its program mode.

2. The method for establishing the target pressure of each tire in a receiver memory of claim 1, wherein each sensor/transmitter is triggered to transmit its identification code and the target pressure signal of the tire associated with that sensor/transmitter in a specific order according to that tire'"'"'s location on the vehicle.

3. The method for establishing the target pressure of each tire in a receiver memory of claim 1 further comprising the step of comparing at least one of the target pressure signals with an average of all target pressure signals and generating a warning signal if any of the at least one of the target pressure signals differs from the average of all target pressure signals by a predetermined amount.

4. A method to establish one or more target tire pressure signals for storage in a receiver in a vehicle tire pressure monitoring system having a sensor/transmitter located in each tire comprising the steps of:

setting a tire pressure in each tire to a desired target pressure;

causing the receiver to operate in a program mode;

triggering each sensor/transmitter in a specific order according to a tire'"'"'s location on the vehicle to transmit an identification code and a pressure signal representing the desired target pressure of the tire;

receiving, processing and storing the pressure signal in the receiver; and

causing the receiver to exit the program mode.

5. The method to establish one or more target tire pressure signals of claim 4 having a plurality of tires and a plurality of pressure signals representing the desired target pressure of each of the plurality of tires, the method further comprising the steps of:

calculating an average target pressure value of all the pressure signals;

comparing the pressure signals from each tire with the average target pressure value; and

displaying a warning signal if one or more of the pressure signals differs from the average target pressure value by at least a predetermined amount.