Dynamic force measurement system for tire testing station
AssigneeBridgestone/Firestone North American Tire, LLC
InventorsGerald R. Potts, Erik F. Knuth
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention provides a system and method for measuring tire forces wherein the force contributions of the test machine may be separated from the force contributions of the tire. The invention achieves the separation of the forces by equipping the test station with a plurality of accelerometers that allow the forces and the moments of the components of the measurement station to be calculated and accounted for in the overall force measurement. In one embodiment, the test station uses a slip ring disposed between the rotating rotor to which the tire is mounted and the stationary bearing housing to allow data to be easily gathered from the accelerometers mounted on the rotor. The slip ring also allows tires to be easily mounted and dismounted.
Claims20
A test station apparatus for measuring tire force, the apparatus comprising:
- a base;
- a recording device;
- a force measurement device connected to the base;
- the force measurement device adapted to measure a first set of tire forces;
- a bearing housing connected to the force measurement device;
- a rotor rotatably mounted to the bearing housing, the rotor adapted to hold a wheel and tire assembly;
- at least one accelerometer mounted to the rotor, the accelerometer being in communication with the recording device;
- a slip ring connected to the rotor and the bearing housing;
- the slip ring providing a portion of the communication between the accelerometer and the recording device;
- and
- means for calculating at least one rotor force from data obtained from the at least one accelerometer mounted to the rotor;
- and
- means for adding the at least one rotor force to the first set of tire forces.
A method of measuring tire forces at a test station apparatus;
- the method comprising the steps of:
- mounting a tire to a test station having a base, a force measurement device, a bearing housing, and a rotor;
- rotating the tire and measuring the tire forces with the force measurement device;
- calculating the force of at least the rotor;
- and
- adding the force calculated for the rotor to the tire force measured by the force measurement device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.