Schrader Electronics Limited

Sensata Technologies, Inc.

Schrader-bridgeport International, Inc.

Stephen John Robb

William David Stewart

Idir Boudaoud

Ian S Elliott

Alan McCall

Alan Murphy

Christopher Arnold

Giovanni De Sanctis

A tire pressure monitoring system comprising a tire pressure monitoring device for mounting on an internal surface of a tire and including a pressure sensor for monitoring the fluid pressure in the tire. The system has an RFID tag located on the tire separately from the tire pressure monitoring device. In response to detecting a tire pressure event from monitoring the fluid pressure of said fluid, the tire pressure monitoring device causes the RFID to transmit data, which is received by the tire pressure monitoring device.

Advanced tire monitoring system

A method of determining an orientation of a tire mounted device with respect to a wheel rim using an acceleration sensor. With the wheel in a designated orientation and not rotating, a polarity of acceleration along a vertical axis is determined. Then it is determined which of a first absolute orientation or a second absolute orientation the tire mounted device is in depending on the determined polarity. The determined absolute orientation is correlated with the designated orientation to determine which of a first or second orientation with respect to the wheel rim the tire mounted device is in.

Methods and apparatus for determining the orientation of a tire mounted device

A method of locating a wheel-mounted electronic device, such as a tire pressure monitoring device. A wireless signal is transmitted from an interrogation device from each of a plurality of interrogation locations. The signals are received by the wheel-mounted device and received signal strength is measured for each interrogation location. The wheel-mounted device then transmits, in respect of each interrogation location, a wireless signal indicating the measured signal strength. These signals are received by the interrogation device which determines from them a location of the wheel-mounted device with respect to a wheel.

Tire sensor location method and apparatus

A tire monitoring apparatus comprising a monitor installed on a tire and a pulse width measuring apparatus for measuring the width of pulses produced by the monitor. The pulse width measuring apparatus comprises a frequency analyzer for producing a frequency representation of the pulse, a signal processor for determining a minimum value of the frequency representation, and a pulse width estimator that inverts the minimum value to produce a measurement for the pulse width. The tire monitoring apparatus uses the pulse width measurement as an indication of characteristics of the tire.

Pulse width measurement method and apparatus

An apparatus for determining the position and/or orientation of a tire mounted unit in a wheel monitoring system comprises a lateral force sensor that is responsive to forces exerted on the respective tire along a lateral axis that is parallel with an axle of the vehicle on which the tire is mounted. The lateral force sensor is arranged to produce an output signal that indicates the direction of the exerted forces. A controller determines the position and/or orientation of the tire unit depending on the exerted force direction indicated by the output signal.

Apparatus and methods for determining the position and/or orientation of a tire mounted unit in a wheel monitoring system

A remote tire monitor system includes a control unit and a plurality of tire monitors mountable on respective wheels of a vehicle to transmit radio signals to the control unit. The tire monitors each include a pair of motion sensors such as shock sensors and a control circuit configured to determine position information for the respective tire monitor based on first and second shock sensor signals from the pair of shock sensors. The shock sensors produce an output voltage proportional to a change in applied force. Therefore, the offset created by centrifugal force in previously used accelerometers is absent, simplifying design of the tire monitors.

Growing community of inventors

Antrim, United Kingdom

Stephen John Robb