Apparatus and method for measuring imbalance forces of a tire/hub assembly of vehicle during motion of the vehicle

A method for collecting measurement parameters related to imbalance forces of a tire/hub assembly of a vehicle during motion of the vehicle on a road surface, the method comprising:

• (a) removably attaching an apparatus to the tire/hub assembly of the vehicle via lug nuts of the tire/hub assembly, the apparatus including:
• (i) a disk,
• (ii) a plurality of cup-shaped objects, each of the cup-shaped objects being rigidly fixed at one end to the disk and extending perpendicularly outward from the disk, the plurality of cup-shaped objects being arranged a fixed radial distance from a radial center of the disk in a pattern that matches the lug nuts of the tire/hub assembly, each of the cup-shaped objects being hollow along at least a portion of its length that is distal from the disk, the hollow portion defining an inner diameter of each of the cup-shaped objects, the inner diameter being larger than an outer diameter of the lug nuts of the tire/hub assembly so as to allow the apparatus to be mounted to the vehicle's tire/hub assembly by fitting the plurality of cup-shaped objects over the lug nuts of the tire/hub assembly, and
• (iii) one or more inertial measurement units (IMU's) mounted to the disk and configured to measure parameters that are used for calculating the imbalance forces during motion of the vehicle;
• (b) driving the vehicle with the apparatus attached thereto on a road surface, and
• (c) collecting measured parameters from the one or more IMU's during motion of the vehicle on the road surface.