Vehicle tire monitoring system with multiple sensors
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsJames Alexander Katzen, Kirk Charles NcNeil, Todd Larry Mory
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle tire monitoring system provides enhanced information about the contact patch interface area between the tire and the underlying road surface. The system has first, second, and third sensors (20A, 20B, and 20C) located on a tire (12) and sensing first, second, and third tread contact lengths (LA, LB, and LC) during which the tire (12) contacts the ground surface (18). The system also includes a controller (42) for processing the first, second, and third tread contact lengths (LA; LB, and LC) to determine a characteristic of the monitored tire (12).
Claims28
A vehicle tire monitoring system for monitoring a tire mounted on a wheel and having a tread portion for contacting a ground surface, said tire monitoring system comprising:
- a first sensor located on a tire and generating a first electrical signal containing information about a first tread contact length;
- a second sensor located on the tire for generating a second electrical signal containing information about a second tread contact length;
- and
- a controller for processing the first and second electrical signals and determining the first tread contact length based on the first electrical signal and the second tread contact length based on the second electrical signal, said controller further processing the first and second tread contact lengths to determine a characteristic of the monitored tire.
A vehicle tire monitoring system for monitoring a tire mounted on a wheel and having a tread surface for contacting a ground surface, said tire monitoring system comprising:
- a first sensor located on a tire and generating a first electrical signal containing information about a first tread contact length;
- a second sensor located on the tire and generating a second electrical signal containing information about a second tread contact length;
- a third sensor located on the tire and generating a third electrical signal containing information about a third contact length;
- and
- a controller for processing the first, second, and third electrical signals and determining the first tread contact length based on the first electrical signal, the second tread contact length based on the second electrical signal, and the third tread contact length based on the third electrical signal, said controller further processing the first, second, and third tread contact lengths to determine a characteristic of the monitored tire.
A method of monitoring a tire mounted on a wheel and having a tread portion for contacting a ground surface, said method comprising the steps of:
- sensing contact of a tread portion of a tire with the ground surface with a first sensor at a first location of a tire;
- sensing contact of the tread portion of the tire with the ground surface with a second sensor at a second location of the tire;
- generating a first electrical signal containing information about a first tread contact length;
- generating a second electrical signal containing information about a second tread contact length;
- processing the first and second electrical signals to determine the first tread contact length based on the first electrical signal and the second tread contact length based on the second electrical signal;
- and
- determining a characteristic of the monitored tire based on the first and second tread contact lengths.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.