Apparatus for optimizing tire or wheel characteristics
AssigneeFirma Carl Schenck AG
InventorRainer Jarschel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The operating or running characteristics of a vehicle tire or rim with a tire secured thereto are optimized on one and the same machine. For this purpose the tire or wheel is supported on a subcritically tuned support bridge structure and driven by a spindle with an adjustable r.p.m. The vibrations of the support bridge structure are measured and converted into respective electrical signals representing a wheel unbalance and/or tire non-uniformities while a drum is pressed with a predetermined force against the tire or vice versa. This force is also measured as an electrical signal. An angular position sensor is operatively connected to the tire or spindle and provides an electrical signal representing the instantaneous tire or wheel position relative to a polar coordinate system.
Claims14
An apparatus for optimizing the road characteristics of tires or wheels comprising:
- mounting means for mounting a wheel or tire for rotation about a wheel mounting axis;
- drum mounting means and drum means mounted thereon for rotation about a drum mounting axis;
- machine base means supporting said wheel mounting means and said drum mounting means for rotation of said drum means in the same plane of rotation as a wheel or tire to be mounted on said wheel mounting means, carriage means interposed beneath at least one of said wheel mounting means and drum mounting means on the machine base means for translation of said wheel mounting means and drum mounting means one relative to the other;
- first drive means constructed and arranged for operatively engaging the drum means and a mounted wheel or tire with a predetermined force by relative translation between said drum mounting means and wheel mounting means, second drive means for rotating a mounted wheel or tire at a desired speed when the drum means and mounted wheel or tire are operatively engaged;
- oscillation bridge means coupled between the machine base and one of said wheel mounting means and drum mounting means and comprising extended bearing means;
- first transducer means operatively coupled for measuring oscillations of said oscillation bridge means relative to the machine base means and for generating a corresponding first output signal upon rotation of said operatively engaged drum means and a mounted wheel or tire at the desired speed;
- second transducer means comprising angular position detector means operatively coupled for generating a signal corresponding to the angular position of a mounted wheel or tire;
- and signal processing means for multiplying said first and second signals to provide information about the unbalance or non-uniformity of a mounted wheel or tire.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.