APPARATUS FOR MEASURING IMBALANCE FORCES OF A TIRE/HUB ASSEMBLY OF A VEHICLE DURING MOTION OF THE VEHICLE

• Main Authors: FANTI, Brandon T, ALSTON, Robert P, REILAND, Ethan, CANFIELD, Eric L, LARUE, Ryan M, SCRIBNER, David M, FOSTER, Rachel, COTTINGHAM, Joseph H, LIAO, William, SUN, Aron, FENIMORE, David, GUJRAL, Meer, EPUR, Rohan, SUDINI, Anish, KANE, Zoe, YECHURI, Saahas,S, SOMA, Scott J, SAINI, Amish
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 06.07.2022
• Subjects: BLASTING; DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS RELATED TO TYRES; ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVEFUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; HEATING; LIGHTING; MEANS FOR DAMPING VIBRATION; MEASURING; MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; NAVIGATION; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY; PHYSICS; REPAIRING, OR CONNECTING VALVES TO, INFLATABLE ELASTIC BODIESIN GENERAL; SHOCK-ABSORBERS; SPRINGS; SURVEYING; TESTING; TESTING STATIC OR DYNAMIC BALANCE OF MACHINES ORSTRUCTURES; TESTING STRUCTURES OR APPARATUS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL; TRANSPORTING; TYRE CHANGING OR REPAIRING; TYRE INFLATION; VEHICLE TYRES; VEHICLES IN GENERAL; WEAPONS

A method is provided for collecting measurement parameters related to imbalance forces of a tire/hub assembly of a vehicle during motion of the vehicle. An apparatus is removably attached to the tire/hub assembly of the vehicle via lug nuts of the tire/hub assembly. The apparatus includes a disk, a plurality of cup-shaped objects, and one or more inertial measurement units (IMU's) mounted to the disk. Each of the cup-shaped objects are rigidly fixed at one end to the disk and extend perpendicularly outward from the disk. The plurality of cup-shaped objects are arranged a fixed radial distance from a radial center of the disk in a pattern that matches the lug nuts of the tire/hub assembly. The one or more inertial measurement units (IMU's) are mounted to the disk and configured to measure parameters that are used for calculating the imbalance forces during motion of the vehicle.