Apparatus for contactless 3D wheel alignment, system and method therefor
AssigneeSnap-On Equipment Srl A Unico Socio
InventorFrancesco Braghiroli
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An alignment measuring apparatus for 3D contactless measuring alignment of a wheel of an automotive vehicle, a system formed by several apparatuses for a total wheel alignment of all wheels of an automotive vehicle, and a respective method for carrying out 3D contactless wheel alignment in real time. The several embodiments provide a comprehensive diagnosis tool for the alignment operation of vehicle wheels by contactless scanning, in particular a real time measuring for total wheel alignment, and enable a respective hassle-free adjustment operation.
Claims33
An alignment measurement apparatus for contactless measuring alignment of a vehicle wheel, the apparatus comprising:
- a support at which a carrier is rotatable mounted about a rotation point;
- at least one measuring unit mounted to the carrier such that the measuring unit has a defined geometrical position and configured to measure distance data of a measurement point on the wheel from the respective measurement unit in a contactless manner, wherein the measuring unit being pivotable about an axis, parallel to a reference plane corresponding to a rotation plane of the carrier device about the mounting point and orthogonal to an radius from the rotation point to the measuring unit;
- control means configured to control rotation of the carrier device and pivoting of the at least one measuring unit such that a measurement point is on the wheel in the area of the bead of the rim;
- and
- processing means configured to calculate wheel alignment data from the provided measured distance data of at least three measurement points together with the respective geometrical position and a respective pivoting angle of the respective at least one measurement unit, and a respective rotation angle of the carrier.
An apparatus for contactless measuring alignment of a vehicle wheel, the apparatus comprising:
- at least three measuring units arranged on a carrier such that their geometrical positions define a reference plane, each measuring unit being configured to measure distance data of a respective measurement point on the wheel from the respective measurement unit in a contactless manner;
- a support at which the carrier is mounted at a mounting point, wherein each measuring unit is pivotable about an respective axis, being parallel to the reference plane and orthogonal to an radius from a geometrical center of the geometrical positions of the at least three measuring units;
- and
- control means configured to control pivoting of each measuring unit such that a respective measurement point on the wheel is in the area of the bead of the rim;
- and
- processing means configured to calculate wheel alignment data from the provided measured distance data of the at least three measurement points together with the respective geometrical position and a respective pivoting angle of the respective measurement unit.
An alignment measurement method of determining alignment of a motor vehicle wheel, the method comprising the steps of:
- controlling a contactless measuring device to detect at least three different measurement points on the bead of the rim of the wheel and to measure respectively a distance and an angle from the measuring device to the respective measurement point;
- and
- calculating alignment of the vehicle wheel using the distances and angles of the at least three different measurement points.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.