Electronic wheel balancer with variable speed operation, improved operator interface, and auxiliary storage

A machine for balancing of small and large size motor vehicle wheels by rotating one of the wheels while attached to a shaft, the shaft operably connected to a drive motor mounted to a chassis, comprising:

• a. motor controller operably connected to the drive motor;
• b. a processor electrically connected to the motor controller such that the drive motor can be started, stopped, accelerated and decelerated to a plurality of speeds controlled by the processor, including first and second wheel imbalance measurement speeds;
• a speed sensor positioned to sense the speeds of the wheel while mounted on the shaft and to communicate electrical signals to the processor that are responsive to the speed of the wheel;
• c. the processor including a wheel size sensor that automatically determines the size of the wheel mounted to the shaft while the wheel is rotated;
• d. the processor including a wheel speed adjuster that varies the speed of the drive motor between the first and second wheel imbalance measurement speeds in accordance with the size of wheel determined by the wheel size sensor;
• e. imbalance force transducers that provide signals to the processor corresponding to the magnitude and location of imbalance forces generated by the rotating wheel;
• and
• f. wherein the wheel size sensor comprises a timer that measures an elapsed time during acceleration of the wheel from a first predetermined speed to a second predetermined speed.