A tire ground contact characteristic measuring method according to the present invention includes: a reproduction step of reproducing a transient change in a tire attitude that occurs during travel of an actual vehicle on a tire; a stress measurement step of causing stress measuring portion embedded on a rotatable rotary drum to measure stress that is applied to the tire in contact with the rotary drum that is rotationally driven; and a calculation step of calculating tire ground contact characteristics, which are characteristics of a ground contact region of a tread surface of the tire in contact with the rotary drum on the basis of the stress measured by the stress measuring portion. The tire ground contact characteristics calculated in the calculation step are tire ground contact characteristics of the tire corresponding to the tire attitude of the actual vehicle at each point in time during a period where the transient change occurs.

A tire testing machine is for testing a tire, comprising a free roller section configured to include a plurality of rollers having an endmost roller disposed downstream of a lubricator in a conveying direction and farthest from a predetermined reference position, the endmost roller being disposed such that a horizontal distance from the reference position is equal to or greater than a radius of a largest of a plurality of tires set in advance as objects of application of a lubricant.

A testing machine for a vehicle wheel includes a base frame, and a drum rotatably supported by the base frame around a drum axis. The testing machine has a drum actuator, for rotating the drum around the drum axis. A wheel movement device rotatably supports the vehicle wheel around a wheel axis and moves the vehicle wheel from a position spaced from the drum to a position in contact with the drum. The base frame rotatably supports the wheel movement device around a slip rotation axis, incident or perpendicular to a plane tangent to the contact point between the vehicle wheel and the drum. The base frame rotatably supports the wheel movement device around a camber rotation axis, perpendicular to the wheel and slip rotation axe. Following rotation of the wheel movement device around the camber rotation axis, the vehicle wheel is rotated according to a camber angle.

A tire inspection device includes a gas sensor disposed outside of a tire and facing an outer surface of the tire. The gas sensor detects a gas that fills the tire.

A chassis dynamometer that tests a two-wheel drive vehicle includes: a driving wheel side roller on which the driving wheels of the vehicle are placed; a driven wheel side roller on which the driven wheels of the vehicle are placed; a driving wheel side power absorbing part connected to the driving wheel side roller; a driven wheel side power absorbing part connected to the driven wheel side roller; a braking force measuring part that, via the driven wheel side power absorbing part, measures braking force exerted on the driven wheel side roller; and a control part that with use of the braking force measured by the braking force measuring part, sets the control target value of the power absorbing force of the driving wheel side power absorbing part to control the driving wheel side power absorbing part.

A revolving drum arrangement (2) for a tire testing rig (1) has a drum body (5) and a friction wheel drive (6), wherein on its outer circumference (9) the drum body (5) has a running surface (9) for making contact with a vehicle tire (4) and is arranged to rotate about its running axle. The friction wheel drive (6) is designed to drive the drum body (5) when it is in contact with the drum body (5). The revolving drum arrangement (2) according to the invention is distinguished in that the friction wheel drive (6) is arranged on a friction wheel carriage (10) that is designed to move the friction wheel drive (6) along an infeed direction so that the friction wheel drive (6) can be brought into contact with the drum body (5). A corresponding tire testing rig (1) and method are also disclosed.

The tire sensing and analysis system may comprise a measurement device and local application software. The measurement device may make contact with a tire of a vehicle such that the measurement device is positioned at a specific distance and orientation relative to the tire. The measurement device may capture multiple images of the tire using an RGB camera and a pair of infrared cameras. The local application software may analyze the images and may construct a 3D mesh describing the 3-dimensional contours of the tread. The local application software may determine a tread depth and may display status and warning messages on a display unit that is coupled to the measurement device. The measurements may be communicated to remote application software for additional analysis. As non-limiting examples, the remote application software may detect specific tire wear patterns and may transmit a report to share results of the analysis.

A first carrying arm (64) and a second carrying arm (65) provided in a first post (61) and a third carrying arm (73) and a fourth carrying arm (74) provided in a second post (62) are provided, the first carrying arm (64) is turned in a direction following the third carrying arm (73) from a side opposite to a side on which the third carrying arm (73) collecting an upper rim turns to carry another upper rim to an upper spindle, and the second carrying arm (65) is turned in a direction following the fourth carrying arm (74) from a side opposite to a side on which the fourth carrying arm (74) collecting a lower rim turns to carry another lower rim to a lower spindle.

An assembly for use in conducting a biaxial test on an object. The assembly comprises a housing that has an interior, and a spindle carriage assembly having a carriage. A portion of the spindle is telescoped with the carriage and coupled to the carriage by a bearing to allow rotation of the spindle. A silhouette is coupled to the spindle for supporting and connecting the spindle to the object during a biaxial test. A transducer is coupled to the carriage and cooperates with the spindle for measuring forces acting on the spindle. The spindle carriage assembly couples to the housing with the carriage disposed in the interior of, and spaced from, the housing, wherein forces that act on the object and the housing are transferred directly to the spindle and measured by the transducer.

A tire testing apparatus of drum type includes a drum having, on a circumferential outer surface thereof, a sensor for measuring a ground contact force of a tire and a transparent portion; an image capturing device for capturing, from inside of the drum and through the transparent portion, an image of the ground contact surface of a tire; a ground contact force measurement processing unit which measures a ground contact force of a tire in planner contact with the sensor; a ground contact surface image capture processing unit which captures an image of the ground contact surface by the image capturing device when the tire comes into planner contact with the transparent portion; and a slip amount calculation unit which calculates a slip amount based on a displacement of a corresponding location which corresponds to a ground contact surface of the tire for which a measurement is made.