Method and device for locating the installation position of vehicle wheels in a motor vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9387733-B2
Application number	US-201013518271-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 9, 2010
Priority date	Dec 21, 2009
Publication date	Jul 12, 2016
Grant date	Jul 12, 2016

Abstract

A method locates an installation position of vehicles wheels in a motor vehicle having at least one vehicle wheel containing a wheel electronics unit. The method includes: determining from the wheel electronics unit a first rotational angle position of the vehicle wheel associated with the wheel electronics unit; transmitting a transmission signal with a first piece of rotational angle information dependent on the determined first rotational angle position; determining from the vehicle second rotational angle positions of the vehicle wheels, and depending thereon, providing second rotational angle information. The first rotational angle information is compared with the second rotational angle information. The installation position of the vehicle wheel associated with the wheel electronics unit is determined depending on the comparison. A device is provided for performing the method.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for localizing installation positions of vehicle wheels in a motor vehicle, in which at least one vehicle wheel has wheel electronics, which comprises the steps of:
repeatedly determining, via the wheel electronics in the vehicle wheel, when the vehicle wheel is in a predetermined angular position;
transmitting a plurality of transmission signals from the wheel electronics in the vehicle wheel, wherein each of the plurality of transmission signals indicates that a rotational position of the vehicle wheel corresponds to the predetermined angular position;
determining, via a plurality of rotation speed sensors in the motor vehicle, information indicating rotation angle positions for the vehicle wheels at instants of time at which the plurality of transmission signals are transmitted;
matching the predetermined angular positions of the vehicle wheel indicated by the plurality of the transmission signals from the wheel electronics in the vehicle wheel with the rotation angle positions determined by one of the plurality of the rotation speed sensors;
determining an installation position of the vehicle wheel by evaluating a number of matches between the predetermined angular positions of the vehicle wheel indicated by the plurality of the transmission signals from the wheel electronics in the vehicle wheel and the rotation angle positions determined by the one of the plurality of the rotation speed sensors.

2. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises, in the matching step, using at least two of the transmission signals.

3. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises sending, via the wheel electronics, each of the transmission signals at a respective prescribed rotation angle position which is known by the wheel electronics and in that the vehicle ascertains the rotation angle positions for each received transmission signal at an instant of reception of the transmission signal.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein a distribution of the rotation angle positions is set up for each vehicle wheel, wherein the installation position is ascertained by evaluating at least one of maximum values of the distribution or variances of the distribution.

5. The method according to claim 4 , which further comprises determining that the distribution which has greatest maximum values or smallest variances as the installation position of the vehicle wheel which is associated with the distribution.

6. The method according to claim 4 , which further comprises detecting and eliminating outliers in the distribution of the rotation angle positions before the distribution is evaluated.

7. The method according to claim 4 , wherein a cluster of the rotation angle positions close to 0° or 360° involves the distribution of the rotation angle positions being shifted by a prescribed value on an abscissa.

8. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises the steps of:
a) determining the respective rotation angle positions for each vehicle wheel for at least two transmission signals received in succession by the vehicle from the wheel electronics;
b) calculating differential values for the respective rotation angle positions of each of the vehicle wheels;
c) calculating quotients from the differential values by a value which corresponds to a full revolution of a vehicle wheel; and
d) determining the installation position as the vehicle wheel which has a smallest quotient.

9. The method according to claim 8 , which further comprises sending, via the wheel electronics, at least N transmission signals and in that an evaluation and determination of the installation position of the vehicle wheel involve using at least N/2 combinations of the rotation angle positions, for each of which steps b) and c) are performed, and in that step d) involves the installation position determined being the vehicle wheel which cumulatively has at least one of a smallest quotients or a smallest distribution of the quotients.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein delay times, which are obtained by virtue of purposely inserted delays or waiting times, the sending of the transmission signal, a reception and evaluation of the transmission signal by the vehicle, the forwarding of the predetermined angular positions of the vehicle wheel obtained from the received transmission signal, the ascertainment and forwarding of the rotation angle positions and the match of the predetermined angular positions of the vehicle wheel with the rotation angle positions from the one of the plurality of the rotation speed sensors, are also included in the evaluation and in the match.

11. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises ascertaining the rotation angle positions by counting at least one of rising clock edges or falling clock edges in a signal ascertained by a rotation speed sensor, wherein a prescribed number of clock edges corresponds to a full revolution of a vehicle wheel.

12. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises using at least six of the transmission signals for determining the installation position.

13. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises using at least twenty of the transmission signals for determining the installation position.

14. The method according to claim 4 , wherein a cluster of the rotation angle positions close to 0° or 360° involves the distribution of the rotation angle positions being shifted by a prescribed value on an abscissa through 90°.

15. The method according to claim 4 , wherein a cluster of the rotation angle positions close to 0° or 360° involves the distribution of the rotation angle positions being shifted by a prescribed value on an abscissa through 180°.

16. The method according to claim 8 , which further comprises:
sending, via the wheel electronics, at least N transmission signals;
evaluating and determining the installation position of the vehicle wheel by using at least (N−1) combinations of the rotation angle positions, for each of which steps b) and c) are performed; and
wherein step d) involves determining the installation position to be the vehicle wheel which cumulatively has at least one of a smallest quotients or a smallest distribution of the quotients.

17. The method according to claim 8 , which further comprises:
sending, via the wheel electronics, at least N transmission signals; and
evaluating and determining the installation position of the vehicle wheel using up to N*(N−1)/2 combinations of the rotation angle positions, for each of which steps b) and c) are performed;
wherein step d) involves determining the installation position to be the vehicle wheel which cumulatively has at least one of a smallest quotients or a smallest distribution of quotients.

18. An apparatus for localizing installation positions of vehicle wheels in a motor vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
a reception device disposed in the motor vehicle;
at least one wheel electronics unit disposed in a vehicle wheel and configured for determining when the vehicle wheel is in a predetermined angular position and for transmitting a plurality of transmission signals, wherein each of the plurality of transmission signals indicates that a rotational position of the vehicle wheel corresponds to the predetermined angular position;
a plurality of rotation speed sensors disposed in the motor vehicle, each one of said plurality of rotation speed sensors is associated with a respective one of the vehicle wheels, said plurality of rotation speed sensors determining inform

Assignees

• Fink Alexander
• Continental Automotive Gmbh

Inventors

• Fink Alexander

Classifications

• B60C23/0416 Primary

  allocating a corresponding wheel position on vehicle, e.g. front/left or rear/right · CPC title

• B60C23/0418

  Sharing hardware components like housing, antenna, receiver or signal transmission line with other vehicle systems like keyless entry or brake control units · CPC title

• B60C23/0489

  for detecting the actual angular position of the monitoring device while the wheel is turning · CPC title

• B60C23/0422

  characterised by the type of signal transmission means · CPC title

• B60C23/042

  cooperating with wheel hub mounted speed sensors · CPC title