The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 13, 2004
Filed:
Jul. 19, 2002
William Randall Dutt, Copley, OH (US);
John Edward Fahringer, Fairlawn, OH (US);
John Michael Maloney, Akron, OH (US);
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Akron, OH (US);
Abstract
The present invention relates to a method and system for detecting air leaks in tires and in a tire testing machine. Each of the tires is mounted on the tire testing machine; inflated with an air flow from an inflation system to a first pressure; and maintained at the first pressure by continued supply of air from the inflation system into the tire. The flow of the continued supply of air is measured with a calorimetric flow sensor calibrated to output a sensor signal having a full scale value corresponding to an identical model tire mounted on the tire testing machine with no air leaks in the model tire or the testing machine. The flow of the continued supply of air is compared with an averaged flow for previously measured tires mounted on the tire testing machine with no air leaks in the tires or the testing machine. A control signal indicating an air leak is outputted if the sensor signal is 20% to 80% of the full scale value.