A vehicle includes a powerplant, such as an engine, configured to power front and rear wheels, and a controller. The controller is programmed to, brake a first of the front wheels and a first of the rear wheels while powering a second of the front wheels and a second of the rear wheels to warm those tires, and subsequently brake the second front wheel and the second rear wheel while powering the first front wheel and the first rear wheel to warm those tires.

A device is disclosed, which includes: a charge portion with a plurality of piezoelectric elements embedded in a tire configured for a vehicle, a capacitor mechanically coupled to the tire and electrically coupled to the plurality of piezoelectric elements; a transmitter coil, mechanically coupled to the tire and electrically coupled to the capacitor through a discharge portion; wherein in response to an external radial pressure on the tire resulting from movement of the vehicle which causes a pressure on the plurality of piezoelectric elements, the plurality of piezoelectric elements produce an electrical charge on the capacitor, and wherein the discharge portion electrically connects the electrical charge on the capacitor to the transmitter coil to send electromagnetic power to the vehicle.

A chemically treated, RFID equipped mesh tire label configured to be integrally incorporated within a vulcanized tire and to provide unique identifier(s) and/or other information about the vulcanized tire during and post tire vulcanization, the label comprising: a mesh face layer configured to be adhered to an outer surface of an unvulcanized tire; a mesh backing layer attached to the mesh face layer and adapted to be integrally incorporated in a vulcanized tire after subjecting a green tire to a vulcanization process; and an RFID device affixed between the mesh face and mesh backing layers, the RFID device that is configured to provide unique identifier(s) and/or other information upon being read with an RFID reader during and post tire vulcanization.

An electrified vehicle according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure includes, among other things, a tire and an electrically powered heating device configured to selectively warm the tire. The heating device may be powered during on-plug conditions to precondition the tire.

Disclosed is an automobile tire burst simulation experiment device, which is fixed on a rim installed with an automobile tire. The automobile tire burst simulation experiment device comprises a pre-tightening triggering device, a retracting device, a storage battery and a controller, the tire burst simulation experiment device according to the present invention uses two drive motors to drive two sets of roller screw slide rails, so as to drive the breakdown device away from and close to the tire to achieve a simulated tire burst and rapid deflation. The experiment device has the characteristics of quick installation, low cost, strong versatility, and adjustable speed; the device can be applied to the tire burst experiment under different vehicle speeds and road conditions of various automobile models. The structure is simple and the simulation control accuracy is high. After the tire burst, the subsequent experiments of the vehicle are not affected.

An apparatus includes a grid circuit having dimensions corresponding to an inner surface of a tire, a computational device coupled to the grid circuit, and a wireless communications device coupled to the computational device. The wireless communications device is configured to transmit detection of damage to the grid circuit. A computer-implemented method includes monitoring a grid circuit positioned in a tire to detect damage to conductors of the grid circuit, detecting damage to at least one of the conductors of the grid circuit, and transmitting information about the damage to a computer of a vehicle. A computer-implemented method includes receiving, from a computational device coupled to a grid circuit in a tire, information about damage to the grid circuit and outputting an indication that the tire is damaged.

A hand-held device for obtaining a three-dimensional topological surface profile of a tire, the device comprising: a base comprising an aperture; a light source arranged in use to generate an elongate pattern of light, and to project said pattern through the aperture onto a rolling surface of the tire; a detector arranged to image a region of the rolling surface of the tire; a plurality of pairs of guide wheels mounted on respective axles mounted on the base, wherein the guide wheels on adjacent axles are linked by gears; and a rotary encoder arranged to generate a signal corresponding to rotation of an axle.

A hand-held device for obtaining a three-dimensional topological surface profile of a tire, the device comprising: a base comprising an aperture; a light source arranged in use to generate an elongate pattern of light, and to project said pattern through the aperture onto a rolling surface of the tire; a detector arranged to image a region of the rolling surface of the tire; a plurality of pairs of guide wheels mounted on respective axles mounted on the base, wherein the guide wheels on adjacent axles are linked by gears; and a rotary encoder arranged to generate a signal corresponding to rotation of an axle.

A vehicle includes a powerplant, such as an engine, configured to power front and rear wheels, and a controller. The controller is programmed to, brake a first of the front wheels and a first of the rear wheels while powering a second of the front wheels and a second of the rear wheels to warm those tires, and subsequently brake the second front wheel and the second rear wheel while powering the first front wheel and the first rear wheel to warm those tires.

An object is to provide a tire testing apparatus.

A tire testing apparatus of a drum type includes: a drum including a transmission portion on an outer circumferential surface; an imaging device that images a ground contact surface of a tire from an inside of the drum via the transmission portion; a ground contact surface imaging processing unit that images, using the imaging device, the ground contact surface when the tire is brought into ground contact with the transmission portion; an edging processing unit that performs edging processing for image information of the imaged ground contact surface of the tire; a division processing unit that performs division processing for the image information subjected to the edging processing into regions which satisfy a predetermined resolution condition; a matching processing unit that performs matching processing by using the divided regions; and a slip amount calculation processing unit that calculates a slip amount and a ground contact surface moving amount.