Method and apparatus for wheel assembly lateral force measurement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9645037-B2
Application number	US-201213628994-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2012
Priority date	Sep 28, 2011
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

A vehicle wheel service system configured with a load roller assembly to apply a generally radial load to a vehicle wheel assembly during rotation, and which is configured with sensors to obtain one or more measurements of lateral forces associated with the vehicle wheel assembly during the loaded rotation, from which a quantified representation of lateral force for the tire of the vehicle wheel assembly is determined.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle wheel service system having a spindle shaft for rotation about an axis and adapted for receiving a vehicle wheel assembly consisting of a tire mounted to a wheel rim, a motor operatively connected to the spindle shaft for rotating the spindle shaft and wheel assembly, and a processor operatively configured to control the components of the vehicle wheel service system, comprising:
a load roller assembly supporting a load roller for rotation about a rotational axis, whereby said processor is configured to control engagement of said load roller assembly and said wheel assembly to apply a generally radial force to said vehicle wheel assembly during rotation;
at least one sensor for measuring a lateral force exerted by said vehicle wheel assembly on said load roller during rotation while said generally radial force is applied to said vehicle wheel assembly without regards as to a specific orientation between the load roller rotational axis and the vehicle wheel assembly axis of rotation; and
wherein the processor is operatively configured to determine quantified representations of conicity and ply steer for the tire under loaded conditions from measures of lateral force received from said at least one sensor together with a load roller correction factor, said load roller correction factor based on a position of said load roller during application of said generally radial force to said vehicle wheel assembly.

2. The vehicle wheel service system of claim 1 wherein the processor is further configured to receive signals associated with imbalance of the vehicle wheel assembly from associated sensors, and to identify one or more imbalance characteristics of the vehicle wheel assembly from said received signals.

3. The vehicle wheel service system of claim 1 further including one or more tire mount/demount tools for the mounting and demounting of the tire on the wheel rim.

4. The vehicle wheel service system of claim 1 wherein said processor is operatively configured to determine an average of at least two lateral force measurements associated with said vehicle wheel assembly, each of said lateral force measurements acquired with said load roller engaged with said vehicle wheel assembly while said load roller rotational axis is in a repeated position and orientation with respect to the wheel assembly axis of rotation and is applying the same generally radial force.

5. The vehicle wheel service system of claim 1 wherein said position of said load roller during application of said generally radial force to said vehicle wheel assembly is associated with at least one vehicle wheel characteristic selected from a set of vehicle wheel characteristics including, tire diameters, wheel offsets, and tire widths.

6. The vehicle wheel service system of claim 1 wherein said processor is operatively configured to determine an average of at least a first lateral force measurement associated with said vehicle tire in a first mounting orientation relative to said spindle shaft, and a second lateral force measurement associated with said vehicle tire in a reversed mounting orientation relative to said spindle shaft.

7. The vehicle wheel service system of claim 6 wherein vehicle tire is mounted on said wheel rim in said first mounting orientation during acquisition of said first lateral force measurement, and wherein said vehicle tire is mounted on said wheel rim in said reversed mounting orientation during acquisition of said second lateral force measurement.

8. The vehicle wheel service system of claim 1 wherein said processor is operatively configured to store said lateral force measurements associated with the vehicle wheel assembly and/or said determined quantified representations of conicity and ply steer for the vehicle tire in an accessible data storage means.

9. The vehicle wheel service system of claim 1 wherein said at least one sensor for measuring a lateral force is configured to measure said lateral force at said rotating spindle shaft.

10. A method for determining a representation of lateral force in a vehicle tire which is part of a wheel assembly, said wheel assembly consisting of said tire mounted to a wheel rim, comprising:
mounting the wheel assembly to a spindle shaft of a vehicle service device for controlled rotational movement about an axis of rotation;
engaging the outer circumferential surface of the tire with a load roller assembly to apply a radial load to said tire;
obtaining a first measurement of wheel assembly lateral force by monitoring a lateral force produced during rotation of the wheel assembly under load about said axis of rotation;
disengaging the load roller assembly from the outer circumferential surface of the tire;
reversing the mounting orientation of the tire relative to the load roller assembly;
re-engaging the outer circumferential surface of the tire with the load roller assembly to apply said radial load to said tire;
obtaining a second measurement of wheel assembly lateral force by monitoring a second lateral force produced during rotation of the wheel assembly under load about said axis of rotation;
determining quantified representations of conicity and ply steer of the wheel assembly under load from said first and second measurements of wheel assembly lateral force;
utilizing said determined quantified representations of conicity and ply steer together with known amounts of conicity and ply steer exerted by said vehicle wheel assembly under load to establish a lateral force correction factor for the vehicle service device associated with a position of the load roller assembly when engaged with the outer circumferential surface of the tire; and
storing said lateral force correction factor together with said load roller position in an accessible data store.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said step of reversing the mounting orientation of the tire relative to the load roller assembly further includes dismounting said tire from said rim; reversing an orientation of said tire relative to said rim; and remounting said tire to said rim in said reversed orientation.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein said step of reversing the mounting orientation of the tire relative to the load roller assembly includes the step of reversing the mounting orientation of the wheel assembly on the driven spindle shaft.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein said position of the load roller assembly when engaged with the outer circumferential surface of the tire is responsive to at least one characteristic of the wheel assembly selected from a set of characteristics including a wheel assembly diameter, a wheel assembly offset, and a vehicle wheel assembly width.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein said step of determining includes the step of calculating an absolute value of an average of the first measurement of wheel assembly lateral force and the second measurement of wheel assembly lateral force.

Assignees

• Hunter Eng Co

Inventors

• Meyer Gregory F
• Callanan Patrick G J

Classifications

• G01M1/045 Primary

  the body being a vehicle wheel · CPC title

• G01M1/00

  Testing static or dynamic balance of machines or structures · CPC title