Tuned radio frequency (RF) resonant materials

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11472233-B2
Application number	US-202016829385-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 25, 2020
Priority date	Mar 27, 2019
Publication date	Oct 18, 2022
Grant date	Oct 18, 2022

Abstract

This disclosure provides a tire formed of a body having multiple plies and a tread that surrounds the body. In some implementations, the plies and/or the tread include a resonator that generates a resonant signal in response to being activated by locally generated power or by an externally generated excitation signal. Multiple resonators formed of carbon-containing materials are distributed in the plies and/or tread to respond to changes to the tire by altering a characteristic of the resonant signal. Such alterations include frequency shifting of the resonant signal and/or attenuation of the resonant signal. The resonator can be configured to resonate at a first frequency when a structural characteristic of a respective ply or tread is greater than a level, and to resonate at a second frequency different than the first frequency when the structural characteristic of the respective ply or tread is not greater than the level.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A tire formed of at least a body including a plurality of plies, at least one ply of the plurality of plies comprising:
a resonator configured to generate a resonant signal in response to a signal; and
a carbon-containing material distributed in one or more portions of the ply and configured to alter at least one characteristic of the resonant signal, wherein an oscillation of the resonator is initiated upon receiving a charge from a charge generation device.

2. The tire of claim 1 , wherein altering the at least one characteristic includes one or more of shifting a frequency of the resonant signal or attenuating the resonant signal proportionately to an amount of wear of one or more of the plurality of plies.

3. The tire of claim 1 , wherein one or more plies of the plurality of plies is configured to attenuate the resonant signal by shielding.

4. The tire of claim 3 , wherein an amount of attenuation is based on a thickness of one or more plies of the plurality of plies.

5. The tire of claim 3 , wherein an amplitude of the attenuated resonant signal is indicative of tire wear.

6. The tire of claim 1 , wherein degradation of one or more plies of the plurality of plies is indicated by a change in the at least one characteristic of the resonant signal.

7. The tire of claim 1 , wherein the resonator is configured to resonate at a first frequency when a structural characteristic of a respective ply of the plurality of plies is greater than a level, and is configured to resonate at a second frequency different than the first frequency when the structural characteristic of the respective ply is not greater than the level.

8. The tire of claim 1 , wherein the resonator is configured to oscillate at a frequency based on a rotational speed of the tire.

9. The tire of claim 1 , wherein the charge generation device is embedded within a respective ply of the plurality of plies.

10. The tire of claim 9 , wherein the charge generation device comprises a tribological component.

11. The tire of claim 9 , wherein the charge generation device comprises a carbon-hexagonal triboelectric energy generator (CH-TENG).

12. The tire of claim 1 , wherein the resonator comprises a plurality of three-dimensional (3D) aggregates formed of graphene sheets.

13. The tire of claim 12 , wherein the graphene sheets are coupled together to create a 3D hierarchical open porous structure.

14. The tire of claim 1 , further comprising a sensor formed by the carbon-containing material.

15. The tire of claim 14 , wherein the sensor is embedded within an inner liner of the tire.

16. A tire formed of at least a body including a plurality of piles, at least one ply of the plurality of piles comprising:
a resonator configured to generate a resonant signal in response to a signal; and
a carbon-containing material distributed in one or more portions of the ply and configured to alter at least one characteristic of the resonant signal, wherein the plurality of plies comprises at least:
a first ply comprising a first resonator configured to resonate at a first frequency;
a second ply comprising a second resonator configured to resonate at a second frequency different than the first frequency; and
a third ply comprising a third resonator configured to resonate at a third frequency different than the first and second frequencies.

17. The tire of claim 16 , wherein the first ply forms an outer layer of the tire.

18. The tire of claim 16 , wherein an attenuation of the first frequency is indicative of wear or degradation of the first ply.

19. The tire of claim 16 , wherein:
the second ply is disposed on the first ply, and
the third ply is disposed on the second ply.

20. The tire of claim 16 , wherein any one or more of the first ply, the second ply, and the third ply are in contact with each other.

21. A tire comprising:
a body including a plurality of plies, wherein each ply of the plurality of plies comprises:
a charge generation device, and
a resonator electrically coupled to the charge generation device within at least one of the plurality of plies and configured to generate a resonant signal in response to a charge generated by the charge generation device; and

a tread surrounding the body.

22. The tire of claim 21 , wherein at least a portion of each ply of the plurality of plies is configured to attenuate the resonant signal generated by a corresponding resonator.

23. The tire of claim 22 , wherein an amount of attenuation is indicative of wear or deterioration of the respective ply.

24. The tire of claim 22 , wherein at least one ply of the plurality of plies is configured to attenuate a corresponding resonant signal by shielding.

25. The tire of claim 22 , wherein at least one ply of the plurality of plies is configured to change a frequency of a corresponding resonant signal based on degradation of the at least one ply.

Assignees

• Lyten Inc

Inventors

• Stowell Michael W
• Lanning Bruce
• Anzelmo Bryce H
• Vanheusden Karel
• Lim Sung H
• Montalvo Carlos

Classifications

• B82Y15/00

  Nanotechnology for interacting, sensing or actuating, e.g. quantum dots as markers in protein assays or molecular motors · CPC title

• B60C2019/004

  Tyre sensors other than for detecting tyre pressure · CPC title

• B60C11/00

  Tyre tread bands; Tread patterns; Anti-skid inserts · CPC title

• H01Q1/2241

  used in or for vehicle tyres · CPC title

• B60C23/064

  comprising tyre mounted deformation sensors, e.g. to determine road contact area · CPC title