Claims
- 1. A vehicle or test stand mounted tire and wheel rim monitoring apparatus comprising:
a radar transceiver for transmitting RF signals to a rotating tire or wheel rim and for receiving RF echoes from the rotating tire or wheel rim to produce a radar output; a processor for processing the radar output to provide an indication of a tire parameter or wheel speed.
- 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the radar transceiver is a Doppler radar.
- 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the Doppler radar is a pulse Doppler radar.
- 4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the Doppler radar is a quadrature radar.
- 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor further comprises an alarm or display.
- 6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processor output is a control signal which controls a system of a vehicle.
- 7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the radar transceiver is positioned so that the processor provides an indication of tire tread delamination or tire out-of-round or tire run-out conditions.
- 8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the radar transceiver is positioned so that the processor provides an indication of tire sidewall ballooning or tire wobble.
- 9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the radar transceiver is positioned so that the processor provides an indication of wheel rotation rate.
- 10. A method for vehicle or test stand mounted sensing of tire abnormalities or wheel speed, comprising:
transmitting RF to a rotating tire or wheel rim; receiving RF reflections from the rotating tire or wheel rim; processing the received RF reflections to detect a tire abnormality or wheel speed.
- 11. The method of claim 10 wherein processing the received RF reflections comprises processing Doppler reflections.
- 12. The method of claim 11 wherein processing the received RF reflections comprises processing quadrature Doppler reflections.
- 13. The method of claim 10 wherein the transmitted RF is directed to and the received RF reflections are received from a tire tread.
- 14. The method of claim 10 wherein the transmitted RF is directed to and the received RF reflections are received from a tire sidewall.
- 15. The method of claim 10 wherein the transmitted RF is directed to and the received RF reflections are received from a structural member of a wheel that casts a radar reflection that differs from the rest of the wheel.
- 16. The method of claim 10 further comprising controlling a vehicle system in response to the detected tire abnormality or wheel speed.
- 17. A tire or wheel monitoring apparatus comprising:
a radar transceiver positioned in a fixed relationship to a rotating tire or wheel and for transmitting RF signals to the rotating tire or wheel for receiving reflected echoes from the rotating tire or wheel; a processor connected to the radar transceiver for processing output signals from the radar transceiver to provide an indication of a tire parameter or wheel speed.
- 18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the radar transceiver is mounted on a vehicle.
- 19. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the radar transceiver is mounted on a test stand.
- 20. A tire or wheel monitoring apparatus comprising:
a radar transceiver positioned in a fixed relationship to a rotating tire or wheel for transmitting RF signals to a selected portion of the rotating tire or wheel and for receiving reflected echoes from the selected portion of the rotating tire or wheel; a processor connected to the radar transceiver for processing output signals from the radar transceiver to provide an indication of a tire parameter or wheel speed.
- 21. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the radar transceiver is mounted on a vehicle.
- 22. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the radar transceiver is mounted on a test stand.
- 23. A tire or wheel monitoring system for vehicles, comprising:
a radar transceiver mounted on the vehicle to transmit RF signals to a rotating tire or wheel and to receive reflected echoes from the rotating tire or wheel; a processor connected to the radar transceiver for processing output signals from the radar transceiver to provide tire condition or wheel speed information; a vehicle control system connected to the processor to control a vehicle system in response to the tire condition or wheel speed information.
RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/882,595, filed Jun. 15, 2001.
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09882595 |
Jun 2001 |
US |
Child |
10782666 |
Feb 2004 |
US |