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.

The invention concerns a system for evaluating the surface of a tyre (10), comprising: a region (21) for entry of the tyre into the system, a capture region, and an exit region (22), distinct from the entry region, means for moving (23) and for holding a tyre in position, means for illuminating the tyre allowing the illumination of a sidewall of the tyre and of the crown of a tyre in the capture region, means for acquiring a visual image of the tyre in the capture region, means for processing the acquired image, at least one acquisition means being installed on a shaft that is movable with respect to the tyre installed in the capture region.

The invention concerns a device and a method for detecting a tire on a vehicle to determine whether there is a single or twin tire on an axle. The device has an optical sensor for this purpose, the sensor detecting at least one region of a rim on which a tire to be determined is mounted. An evaluation unit is also provided which is designed to determine a shape of the area of the rim from the sensor signals and to generate a signal from the shape which represents the type of tire.

The present application refers to an apparatus for the analysis of real data relating to the interface region between a pneumatic tire and the road surface under wet conditions. In particular, such an apparatus makes it possible to detect the ground contact region and the water expulsion profile of a pneumatic tire, particularly on wet surfaces, under differing dynamic driving conditions (rolling, braking, and steering of the pneumatic tire).

Systems and methods are provided herein for determining a tire characteristic of an electric vehicle's tires and notifying a user of the tire characteristic. This may be accomplished by an electric vehicle charging station (EVCS) receiving an image of an electric vehicle in response to detecting the electric vehicle. The EVCS can use the received image to determine a tire characteristic (e.g., tire tread depth) of one or more tires of the electric vehicle. The EVCS can then notify the user of the electric vehicle. For example, the EVCS may display a notification on a display of the EVCS. The EVCS may also recommend one or more locations where a user can take the electric vehicle to have the one or more tires serviced.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute a process, the process includes acquiring first sound data collected by a first microphone and second sound data collected by a second microphone during traveling of a vehicle in which the first microphone is provided in vicinity of a front wheel and the second microphone is provided in vicinity of a rear wheel; and detecting a cavity under a road surface where the vehicle has traveled based on a difference between the acquired first sound data and the acquired second sound data.

A drive-through vehicle inspection system acquiring information from engraved markings on the tire sidewalls of a moving vehicle. Optical imaging sensors disposed on opposite sides of the vehicle acquire images of the sidewall surfaces for each passing wheel assembly. The acquired images are evaluated by a processing system configured to identify, within the acquired images, visible markings engraved into the tire sidewall surfaces which include at first portion having a first optical reflectivity, and a second portion having a second optical reflectivity which is different from the first optical reflectivity. Each identified marking is decoded to retrieve data stored therein, representative of the tire, wheel assembly, and/or associated vehicle onto which the wheel assembly is installed. The retrieved data is incorporated into an inspection report and/or utilized by the vehicle inspection system to access vehicle-specific information contained within an indexed database.

A tire groove measurement device includes a camera, a straightness calculation unit as a calculation unit, and a determination unit. The camera includes a projector for projecting a measurement pattern onto a tire and two imaging units arranged in the same direction as a direction in which a tire groove extends. The straightness calculation unit calculates how straight an outer surface of the tire and the camera face each other based on an image captured by the imaging units. The determination unit determines whether the outer surface of the tire and the camera face each other straight based on a result of calculation by the straightness calculation unit.

A tire groove depth display method includes a grounded part extracting step, a groove depth calculating step, an image generating step, and a displaying step. The grounded part extracting step extracts a grounded part on a surface of a tread part of a tire as a plurality of areas sandwiching a tire groove. The groove depth calculating step calculates a depth of the tire groove between respective areas of the grounded part. The image generating step generates an image that shows the areas extracted by the grounded part extracting step and information on the depth of the tire groove calculated by the groove depth calculating step. The displaying step displays the image generated by the image generating step.

Method and station for the skiving of the equatorial surface of the casing of a pneumatic tire during a retreading process of the same pneumatic tire; the old worn tread is removed from the pneumatic tire in order to expose the equatorial surface of the casing of the pneumatic tire; the presence of any damage on the equatorial surface of the casing is identified by capturing a three-dimensional profile of the equatorial surface of the casing by means of a laser type profilometer and by analyzing the same three-dimensional profile; and the equatorial surface of the casing is skived where there is damage resulting from the formation of craters on the equatorial surface.