Pirelli Tyre S.p.a.

Pirelli Pneumatici S.p.a.

Politecnico Di Milano

Prometeon Tyre Group S.r.l.

Massimo Brusarosco

Federico Mancosu

Anna Paola Fioravanti

Daniele Arosio

Fabio Mariani

Fabio Romeo

Elvio Bonisoli

Federico Cheli

Stefano Tornincasa

Alexandre Bregantim

Andrea Calatroni

Fabio Freschi

Stefano Melzi

Maurizio Repetto

Sandro Moos

Anna Paolo Fioravanti

Andrea Taldo

Fabio Covolo

Fabio Mario Montanaro

A positioning device for keeping a monitoring device for tyres of vehicle wheels in an installation condition, includes: two separate active portions, each having a main surface the shape of which matches that of a respective portion of an outer surface of a monitoring device, said separate active portions being adapted to cooperate with at least base portions of said monitoring device so that, when said positioning device is associated with said monitoring device, the base portions of said monitoring device are maintained at a given mutual distance by said active portions.

Method for installing a monitoring device in a tyre for vehicle wheels

A method for installing a monitoring device in a tire for vehicle wheels, includes: providing a monitoring device including: an electronic unit; a connecting member having an upper structure and a lower structure that, in cooperation, define a housing for the electronic unit, the lower structure including two base portions mutually separated by a separation region, each of the base portions having a respective base surface associable with an inner surface of a tire. The method further includes providing a positioning device including two separate active portions, each having a main surface in the shape of which matches that of a respective portion of an outer surface of the monitoring device, the separate active portions being adapted to cooperate with at least the base portions; associating the positioning device with the monitoring device to keep the monitoring device in an installation condition in which the base portions are maintained at a given mutual distance by the active portions; fastening the base portions to the inner surface of the tire; and removing the positioning device.

A device for monitoring tires for vehicle wheels, includes: an electronic unit adapted to detect at least one characteristic quantity of a tire and to transmit at least one corresponding parameter representative of said detected quantity; a connection element to keep the electronic unit constrained to an internal surface of the tire, the connection element including a first portion having a base surface adapted to be secured to the inner surface of the tire, and a cavity for housing the electronic unit wherein the first portion has at least one slot interposed between the electronic unit and the projection thereof on the base surface, the slot having a distal profile relative to the electronic unit which is entirely contained in the base surface. A tire for vehicle wheels provided with the monitoring device and a method for installing the electronic unit in the tire.

Device for monitoring tyres for vehicle wheels, tyre provided with said monitoring device and method for installing an electronic unit in a tyre

A monitoring device for tires for vehicle wheels includes: an electronic unit; a connecting member configured for constraining the electronic unit to a tire, the connecting member including: a first and a second base portion, mutually separated by a separated region, each of the base portions having a respective base surface associable with an inner surface of a tire; a housing portion associated with the base portions defining, in cooperation with said base portions, a cavity for housing the electronic unit, wherein the housing portion includes at least one side structure, configured for exerting a containing action at least relative to movements of the electronic unit carried out in a major extension direction of the separation region and with respect to movements of said electronic unit carried out in a direction orthogonal to the major extension direction of the separation region wherein the cavity is confined at least by a side surface defined by an inner surface of the side structure, wherein the electronic unit includes at least one sensor, at least one antenna and a holding body for housing at least the sensor and the antenna, wherein the holding body has at least one side surface, wherein, when the electronic unit is inserted in the cavity: the side surface of the holding body faces the side surface of the cavity, and the sizes of said cavity and of the holding body are such as to form at least one first gap at least partly separating the side surface of the holding body and the side surface of the cavity.

Monitoring device for tyres for vehicle wheels, tyre for vehicle wheels provided with said monitoring device, and method for installing an electronic unit in said tyre

A method of signalling an aquaplaning condition of a tire, the latter rolling on a rolling surface, a footprint area being defined between the tire and the rolling surface, a layer of water being interposed between the tire and the rolling surface, includes: detecting a first signal representative of a deformation of the tire due to rolling of the tire on the rolling surface, the first signal including at least one portion representative of the interaction between the tire and the layer of water; processing the first signal so as to determine a parameter representative of an aquaplaning condition of the tire as a function of the first signal; and generating a notification signal as a function of the at least one parameter. A system for signalling an aquaplaning condition of a tire.

Method and system for signaling an aquaplaning condition of a tyre fitted on a vehicle

A monitoring device for tires for vehicle wheels includes: an electronic unit; a connecting member configured for constraining the electronic unit to a tire, the connecting member being of one piece construction and including: a first and a second base portion, mutually separated by a separation region, each of the base portions having a respective base surface associable with an inner surface of a tire; and a housing portion in cooperation with the base portions defining a cavity for the electronic unit. The connecting member is deformable between an insertion condition of the electronic unit into the cavity and a retaining condition of the electronic unit in the cavity. The connecting member in the insertion condition is configured for enabling insertion of the electronic unit in the cavity when the base portions are not fastened to the inner surface of the tire. The connecting member in the retaining condition is configured for preventing extraction of the electronic unit from the cavity in any direction when the base portions are fastened to the inner surface of the tire.

A method for determining a load exerted on a tire, fitted on a vehicle, during running of the vehicle on a rolling surface, is disclosed. The method includes acquiring a first signal comprising a first signal portion representative of a radial deformation; measuring an amplitude of the radial deformation in the first signal portion; estimating a rotation speed of the tire corresponding to the radial deformation; estimating an inflation pressure of the tire corresponding to the radial deformation; and deriving the load exerted on the tire from the amplitude, the rotation speed, and the inflation pressure. The first signal portion is representative of the radial deformation to which a first tread area portion of the tire is subjected during passage of the first tread area portion through a contact region between the tire and the rolling surface. A system for determining the load exerted on the tire is also disclosed.

Method and system for determining a tyre load during the running of a motor vehicle

A method and system for generating electric energy in a tire includes a device including a housing that extends according to a longitudinal axis X, at least one electrical winding, a magnet movable within the housing along the longitudinal axis, and a force providing element positioned at at least one of two opposite ends of the housing, which is adapted to exert on the magnet a force along said longitudinal axis. The device is fixed on a crown portion of the tire; the tire is rotated on a rolling surface so as to determine variations of forces that act on the device every time the device passes, due to the rolling of the tire, at a footprint of the tire; the force exerted by the force providing element and the variations of forces along the longitudinal axis are exploited so as to cause variations of the magnet position with respect to the at least one electrical winding; and the electric energy generated across the at least one electrical winding as a consequence of the variations of the position of the magnet with respect to the electrical winding is collected.

Method for generating electric energy in a tire

A method for wear control of vehicle tires, includes: detecting deformation of an inner surface of a first tire by means of a first sensor; determining a first level of wear of the first tire; detecting a deformation of an inner surface of a second tire by means of a second sensor; determining a second level of wear of the second tire; comparing the first and second levels of wear with each other; and generating a notification signal representative of the comparison. Also disclosed is a system for wear control of vehicle tires, a method of determining the wear of a tire and a system for determining the wear of a tire.

Method and system for wear control of vehicle tyres

A tire includes a flexible piezoelectric element associated with an energy storage device (e.g. a capacitor). The flexible piezoelectric element is mounted in cantilever-beam fashion within a housing so that a first end thereof is fixed to the housing. A loading mass is associated with the second end of the flexible piezoelectric element. A small gap is formed between the inner walls of the housing and the outer surface of the loading mass in order to allow limited flexure of the piezoelectric element. The housing, including the piezoelectric element, is mounted in a crown portion of the tire, preferably on the inner surface of the tire. The piezoelectric element flexes under the action of the longitudinal acceleration when the tire rotates. Sufficient electrical power for powering an electronic device included within the tire is obtained, together with a long durability of the piezoelectric element.

Method and system for generating electrical energy within a vehicle tyre

An oscillating structure is coupled to a crown portion of a tire. The oscillating structure includes a housing and a piezoelectric element coupled to the housing. The piezoelectric element is able to oscillate in an oscillation direction, which could match either a longitudinal or a radial direction of the tire. An electrical signal generated by the piezoelectric element is processed so as to determine at least one operating parameter of the tire. The processing includes determining whether a rotation speed of the tire is greater than a threshold speed; and, in the negative, extracting information for determining the at least one operating parameter of the tire from a low-pass filtered signal. Such low-pass filtered signal is obtained by removing at least frequency components of the electrical signal having a frequency higher than or equal to a resonance peak frequency of the oscillating structure.

Method and system for determining operating parameters of a tyre during running of a vehicle

A tyre having a radially internal surface of substantially toroidal conformation, includes: a housing mounted on the internal surface of the tyre and an electronic unit at least partially housed in the housing, the housing including at least two portions, each having a cavity in contact with a respective portion of the electronic unit and housing the same, each portion of the housing being mounted on the internal surface of the tyre, and a fastening element applied to the portions of the housing to maintain a constraint between such portions and the electronic unit. A method of installing the electronic unit into a tyre.

Tyre comprising an electronic unit and a method of installing said electronic unit into said tyre

A method of determining at least one parameter representative of at least one interaction along a longitudinal direction between a tyre and the ground, includes identifying a first parameter representative of a radial deformation of the tyre; determining a first and a second value of the first parameter in respective neighbourhoods of a first and a second longitudinal end of a footprint area defined between the tyre and ground; calculating a linear combination of the values thereby obtaining a second parameter; determining a third parameter representative of an angular velocity of the tyre; calculating a ratio between the second and third parameters; and calculating a main parameter, starting from the ratio, according to an algorithm, which main parameter is representative of a longitudinal interaction between the tyre and the ground.

Method for determining at least one parameter representative of at least one interaction along a longitudinal direction between a tyre for vehicle and the ground

A method and a system for determining a cornering angle of a tire fitted on a vehicle during a running of the vehicle on a rolling surface includes the steps of determining the lateral acceleration of a portion of the tire tread spaced apart from the equatorial plane of the tire; determining a rotation speed of the tire; and determining the cornering angle from the lateral acceleration and the radial speed by using characteristic curves of lateral acceleration amplitude versus predetermined values of cornering angle for at least one rotation speed.

Method and system for determining a cornering angle of a tyre during the running of a vehicle

A method for monitoring a tire during running includes acquiring and storing, at least temporarily, a first curve representing an acceleration profile of a first point of a tread area of the tire; acquiring and storing, at least temporarily, at least one second curve representing an acceleration profile of a second point of the tread area; and comparing the first curve and the at least one second curve, or parameters derived from the first curve and the at least one second curve, so as to determine a dynamic behavior of the tire. The first and second points are located substantially on a same meridian plane of the tire. A related tire, wheel for a vehicle, system for monitoring a tire during running, and method for controlling a vehicle are also disclosed.

Growing community of inventors

Milan, Italy

Massimo Brusarosco