Method of associating tire pressure control apparatuses to wheel positions

• US 9,902,216 B2
• Filed: 05/06/2015
• Issued: 02/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huf Baolong Electronics Bretten GmbH (Huf Hulsbeck & Furst GmbH & Co. KG)
• Original Assignee: Huf Hulsbeck & Furst GmbH & Co. KG
• Inventors: Wagner, Markus, Brand, Peter, Alexander, Markus
• Primary Examiner(s): Yushin, Nikolay
• Application Number:
  US14/705,803
• Publication Number:
  US 20150231935A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,028 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/04 mounted on the wheel or tyre
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0489 for detecting the actual angular position of the monitoring device while the wheel is turning
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/00 Measuring acceleration; Measuring deceleration; Measuring shock, i.e. sudden change of acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 3/00 Measuring linear or angular speed; Measuring differences of linear or angular speeds G01P5/00 - G01P11/00 take precedence; direction and speed indication G01P13/045; counting mechanisms G06M

Abstract

Tire pressure control devices include first sensors to deliver repeatedly a measured value M1 for the rotation speed of the wheel. A measurand, from which the rotation speed of the associated wheel can be derived, is detected in a pointwise manner by means of a second sensor over a predetermined rotation angle φ of the wheel as a function of time, is subjected to a low pass filtering in a subsequent first time interval Δt1 and from the filtered development of the measurand a second measured value M2 is determined, which is a measurement for the rotation speed or respectively for the angular speed of the associated wheel. Each tire pressure control device transmits at the end of a second time interval Δt2 the second measured value M2 together with an identification of the tire pressure control device to a central unit. Comparing M1 and M2 determines wheel position.

Claims

1. A method for the allocating of tire pressure control devices of a tire pressure control system of a vehicle to the different positions at which respectively a wheel of the vehicle is mounted, automatically by the tire pressure control system, the method comprising the steps of:

providing the tire pressure control system, the system comprising;

a number of first sensors, corresponding to the number of wheel positions, which are each fixedly allocated to one of the wheel positions and can detect a rotation speed or an angular speed of the wheel which is mounted in the wheel position;

a number of tire pressure control devices, coinciding with the number of the mounted wheels, which devices are mounted on the wheels rotating together with these, are provided with an individual identification and contain a second sensor for determining a measurand, from the chronological development of which the rotation speed of the respective wheel or the angular speed of the wheel can be derived;

a central unit, in which the allocation of the tire pressure control devices to respectively one wheel position, namely the identification of the tire pressure control device situated in the wheel position in connection with the associated wheel position, can be stored;

wherein it is known by the central unit from this method which first sensor is allocated to which wheel position;

delivering, by the first sensors, repeatedly a measured value M1 for successive time segments Δ

T, the measured value M1 being a measurement for the rotation speed or for the angular speed of the wheel to which the respective first sensor is allocated;

sending, by the tire pressure control devices, their individual identification to the central unit in chronological intervals;

wherein in each rotating tire pressure control device there are performed the steps of;

detecting, by each rotating tire pressure control device, pointwise the development of the measurand from which the rotation speed or the angular speed of the associated wheel can be derived by means of the second sensor over a predetermined rotation angle φ

of the wheel as a function of time;

low pass filtering, by each rotating tire pressure control device, of the chronological development of the measurand in a first time interval Δ

t₁ following the detection of the measurand detected during the rotation of the wheel about the predetermined rotation angle φ

;

storing, by each rotating tire pressure control device, the result of the filtering;

determining, by each rotating tire pressure control device, a second measured value M2 from the filtered development of the measurand, which is a measurement for the rotation speed or respectively for the angular speed of the associated wheel in the range of the observed predetermined rotation angle φ

;

transmitting, by each tire pressure control device, the second measured value M2 together with its identification to the central unit at the end of a second time interval Δ

t₂, the duration of which is not less than the first time interval Δ

t₁;

comparing, in the central unit as a result of this transmittal, the second measured values M2 transmitted by the tire pressure control devices with the measured values M1 detected in a timely manner by the first sensors of all wheels; and

storing, in the central unit, the identification of the tire pressure control device respectively under that wheel position in which the measured value M1 delivered by the first sensor best coincides with the measured value M2.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein as first sensors anti-lock braking system (ABS) sensors are used, of which in each case one ABS sensor is allocated to one of the wheel positions of the vehicle.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the duration of the second time interval Δ

t₂ is constant.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the end of the first time interval Δ

t₁ is placed such that it coincides with the moment at which the end of the filtered development of the measurand detected by the second sensor has left the low pass filter and is stored in the tire pressure control device.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the measured value M2, if applicable also the measured value M3, is additionally used in the central unit in order to determine the angular position which the wheel has at the end of the first time interval Δ

t₁ and/or at the end of the second time interval Δ

t₂.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein more than one identification is stored in the central unit for each wheel position.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the tire pressure control devices send in shorter time intervals in the allocation method than in a normal operation of the tire pressure control system, in which only identifications which are already stored in the central unit are transmitted to the central unit from all tire pressure control devices.

8. The method according to claim 1, in which a low pass filter is used, the threshold frequency of which lies between 1 Hz and 5 Hz.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein as measured values M1 detected in a timely manner, those measured values M1 are selected which were measured in not more than five successive time segments Δ

T, wherein the end of the second time interval Δ

t₂, in which in a tire pressure control device a low pass filtering of the development of the measurand detected by the second sensor and the transmittal of the second measured value M2 as well as the identification to the central unit takes place, lies in the no more than five time segments Δ

T or at the boundary thereof.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second measured values M2 are transmitted twice to the central unit, namely once at the end of the second time interval Δ

t₂ and a second time after a further rotation of the wheel about less than one revolution.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein as second sensor such a sensor is used which delivers a signal with a periodic development, wherein the period is constant as long as the vehicle moves in a straight line with a constant speed.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein as second sensors acceleration sensors are used, at least one of which is contained in each tire pressure control device.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein as measured values M1 detected in a timely manner, those measured values are selected which were measured in several successive time segments Δ

T, which overlap with the second time interval Δ

t₂ or lie at its boundary.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein as measured values M1 detected in a timely manner, the measured values M1 are selected which were measured in two successive time segments Δ

T.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein it is carried out repeatedly, wherein the allocations obtained in each run of the method are collected in the central unit, wherein the collected allocations are analyzed according to the frequency of their occurrence, and wherein for each wheel position the identification is stored which is allocated to it the most frequently.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein after a start of a journey it is then carried out in a shortened manner, i.e. with a smaller number of repetitions than with a storage for the first time of a particular allocation, if, to the given wheel positions, that identification, which was already stored during the preceding journey as the most frequent identification, is transmitted again to the central unit.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first sensors measure the measurand, which is a measurement for the rotation speed or for the angular speed, and store the measurement result for a predetermined duration.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the measurement results of the first sensors are stored for a time span T1, which is twice to five times as long as the predetermined time segment Δ

T for the individual measurement.

19. The method according to claim 17, wherein the time segment Δ

T for the individual measurement lies between 10 ms and 100 ms.

20. The method according to claim 1, wherein the duration of the first time interval Δ

t₁ is constant.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the first time interval Δ

t₁ in which, in the tire pressure control devices, the development of the measurand detected by the second sensor is subjected to a low pass filtering, or the rotation angle Δ

φ

about which the wheel has further rotated during the first time interval Δ

t₁ and/or the second time interval Δ

t₂, is either given as known to the central unit or is transmitted to it as a third measured value M3 by the tire pressure control device together with its identification and with the filtered measurand or with the second measured value M2 derived therefrom.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the predetermined duration of the first time interval Δ

t₁ in which the detected measurand is subjected to a low pass filtering in the tire pressure control devices, and/or the duration of the second time interval Δ

t₂ is selected in a speed-dependent manner, and namely such that the duration of the first time interval Δ

t₁ and/or the duration of the second time interval Δ

t₂ decreases with increasing speed of the vehicle.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the predetermined duration of the first time interval Δ

t₁ and or the predetermined duration of the second time interval Δ

t₂ is adapted in stages or continuously to the speed of the vehicle or to the rotation speed or respectively angular speed of the wheel concerned.

24. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the tire pressure control devices the second sensor detects its measurand several times, in each case for a second time span T2, which the wheel requires in order to rotate about at least 180°

.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein in the tire pressure control devices the second sensor detects its measurand several times, in each case for a second time span T2, which the wheel requires in order to rotate about a whole-number multiple of 180°

.

26. The method according to claim 24, wherein the predetermined rotation angle φ

about which the wheels are to rotate for the detecting of the measurand of the second sensor, is selected so that the measuring begins in a predetermined rotation angle position of the second sensor.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein in the tire pressure control devices the measurand detected by the second sensor is filtered by means of a digital low pass filter and that by means of the filtered signal the second time span T2 is measured which the wheel requires for its rotation about the predetermined rotation angle φ

.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein as measurement for the rotation speed or the angular speed of the wheel, the second time span T2 which the wheel required for a rotation about the predetermined rotation angle φ

, or the rotation speed or angular speed of the wheel calculated from the predetermined rotation angle φ and

the second time span T2 required therefor in the tire pressure control device at the end of the second time interval Δ

t₂ together with the identification of the tire pressure control device and if applicable together with the second time interval Δ

t₂ or with the rotation angle Δ

φ

, about which the wheel has further rotated during the second time interval Δ

t₂, is transmitted to the central unit.