Wheel balancer with speed setting

Abstract

A wheel balancer is provided that includes a shaft adapted for receiving a wheel/tire assembly, the shaft having a longitudinal axis and being rotatable about the axis so as to rotate a wheel/tire assembly removably mounted thereon, a rotation sensor for measuring rotation of the shaft about its longitudinal axis and a vibration sensor operatively connected to the shaft for measuring vibrations resulting from imbalance in the wheel/tire assembly. A motor operatively connected to the shaft for rotating the shaft about its longitudinal axis to rotate the wheel/tire assembly is also included. The wheel balancer further includes a control circuit for controlling the application of current to the motor to rotate the wheel/tire assembly at a plurality of sustainable speeds. The control circuit may also be adapted for determining from vibrations measured by the vibration sensor at least one weight placement position on the wheel/tire assembly to correct the vibrations. In that embodiment, a manually operable input device is included to set a desired speed of rotation of the wheel/tire assembly, the control circuit being responsive to the input device to cause the motor to rotate the wheel/tire assembly at the desired speed, whereby a user can input a desired speed and balancer tests the wheel/tire assembly at that speed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.