Method of wear testing a tire
AssigneeBridgestone/Firestone North American Tire, LLC
InventorsJohn L. Turner, David O. Stalnaker
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for indoor wear testing tires includes the steps of characterizing a vehicle and a wear test course and combining the characterized data to create input data for an indoor wear test machine. The input data allows the indoor wear test machine to accurately simulate an outdoor wear test course for the characterized vehicle. The method allows multiple wear test courses to be used with a single characterized vehicle and allows a single wear test course to be used with multiple characterized vehicles. The method allows tires to be wear tested in relatively short time periods in the controlled environment of the indoor laboratory. In addition, the method is relatively easy to set up and perform.
Claims16
A method of wear testing a tire comprising the steps of:
- (a) characterizing a vehicle using a computer model;
- (b) characterizing a wear course;
- (c) predicting force data that represents the forces that would be experienced by the characterized vehicle if the characterized vehicle were driven over the characterized wear course;
- and
- (d) using the force data to drive an indoor tire wear test machine.
A method of wear testing a tire comprising the steps of:
- (a) driving a first vehicle over a wear test course and recording accelerations and velocities experienced by the first vehicle while the vehicle is driven over the wear test course, the accelerations and velocities being recorded at fixed distances along the wear test course;
- (b) relating tire force and inclination angle measurements to the accelerations and velocity of a second vehicle;
- and
- (c) predicting the tire forces and inclination angles that would be created in the tires of a vehicle driven over the wear test course;
- and
- (d) inputting the predicted tire forces and inclination angles into an indoor tire wear test machine.
A method of wear testing a tire comprising the steps of:
- (a) selecting a first test vehicle having at least a first test tire;
- (b) using a computer model to measure the forces experienced by the at least first test tire while measuring the accelerations and velocity of the vehicle;
- (c) creating formulas that relate the forces experienced by the at least one test tire to the accelerations and velocity of the vehicle;
- (d) driving a second test vehicle over a wear test course and recording the velocity and accelerations of the vehicle as it is driven over the wear test course, the velocity and accelerations being measured at fixed distances along the wear test course;
- (e) using the velocities and accelerations recorded over the wear test course to create input forces for an indoor wear test machine;
- (f) inputting the input forces into the wear test machine;
- and
- (g) performing an indoor wear test on a tire with the wear test machine using the input forces.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.