Devices and methods for simulating tire non-uniformity forces for vehicle vibration sensitivity measurements and tuning

A device to simulate high order tire non-uniformity forces comprising:

• a wheel adapter to receive an input rotational direction and an input rotational velocity from a vehicle wheel;
• a housing comprising an input shaft, first and second gearboxes, and first and second disks, wherein the first gearbox is adapted to rotate the first disk in the first rotational direction at a first rotational speed, the second gearbox is adapted to rotate the second disk in a second rotational direction at a second rotational speed, and wherein the input shaft is adapted to couple to the wheel adapter;
• and
• a rotation restriction member adapted to attach to the housing to restrict the gearboxes from rotating.

A method of simulating first order tire non-uniformity forces comprising:

• positioning a first and second weight to rotate relative to a vehicle wheel;
• rotating the first weight in a first rotational direction at a first rotational speed and rotating the second weight in a second rotational direction at a second rotational speed;
• determining a resultant excitation force caused by the rotating weights;
• and
• determining at least one of steering wheel movements and seat track movements caused by the resultant excitation force.

A method of simulating high order tire non-uniformity forces comprising:

• positioning a first and a second weight to rotate relative to a vehicle wheel, wherein a vehicle wheel is adapted to rotate in a wheel rotational direction at a wheel rotational speed;
• rotating the first weight in a first rotational direction at a first rotational speed;
• rotating the second weight in a second rotational direction at a second rotational speed;
• determining a resultant excitation force caused by the rotating weights;
• and
• determining at least one of steering wheel movements and seat track movements caused by the resultant excitation force.