A replacement system for a tire supporting a vehicle includes a processor in electronic communication with an electronic system of the vehicle, and an electronic memory capacity for storing tire identification information. The processor receives the tire identification information and vehicle data. A prediction model is in electronic communication with the processor and receives the tire identification information and the vehicle data. An identification of a replacement tread depth for the tire is included in the prediction model, and the model determines an estimation of remaining available distance for the tire to reach the replacement tread depth. The model estimates remaining available time to reach the replacement tread depth from the estimation of remaining available distance. A residual correction module optimizes the estimation of the remaining available time for the tire to reach the replacement tread depth, and a notification of a replacement lead time is generated by the system.

The invention relates to a system for evaluating the condition of a tire, the system comprising a first housing placed on the ground and a device for detecting the wear of a tire when the tire passes over said first housing, said system further comprising a first device for detecting the presence of a tire over the first housing, and electronic means for activating the wear detecting device during the detection of the presence of a tire by the presence detecting device.

A device, system, and method for optically measuring the tread depth of a tire mounted on a vehicle, wherein at least one of a camera, a processor, and an onboard computer may be configured to determine the tread depth from images of the tire tread. Tread depth may be measured when the vehicle is either stationary or moving. Tread depth may be measured either manually by a vehicle operator or automatically by the optical-based tread depth measuring system.

Tire sensing systems operable to determine one or more physical characteristics of a tire include millimeter wave transmitting and receiving devices. A processor is communicatively coupled with a memory that includes instructions to transmit and receive a millimeter wave toward and from the tire. Memory also includes instructions to image first and second radial extents of the tire based on the received millimeter wave as well as instructions to determine a dimensional difference between the first and second radial extents of the tire. Vehicles including such tire sensing systems as well as non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums and methods are also included.

A method for determining the profile depth of a tread of a pneumatic vehicle tire wherein the tread has a wear indicator. The wear indicator has an incision extending in the radial direction of the tire. The incision has a length visible on the tread and the length becomes shorter as wear increases. The wear indicator has two reference marks at a distance from each other. The distance is configured to remain constant and visible throughout the tread wear. A photo of the incision and the reference marks is generated via an application program of a mobile phone having a camera and an image screen. A current profile depth is calculated from the distance of the reference marks and the length of the incision via the application program. The current profile depth and/or a remaining profile depth are displayed until a minimal profile depth is reached on the screen.

A method for determining the profile depth of a tread of a pneumatic vehicle tire wherein the tread has a wear indicator. The wear indicator has an incision extending in the radial direction of the tire. The incision has a length visible on the tread and the length becomes shorter as wear increases. The wear indicator has two reference marks at a distance from each other. The distance is configured to remain constant and visible throughout the tread wear. A photo of the incision and the reference marks is generated via an application program of a mobile phone having a camera and an image screen. A current profile depth is calculated from the distance of the reference marks and the length of the incision via the application program. The current profile depth and/or a remaining profile depth are displayed until a minimal profile depth is reached on the screen.

Disclosed are various embodiments for sensing wear of a tire tread and for providing for electrostatic discharge of electrostatic charge buildup in a vehicle. Various sensor structures and electrostatic discharge structures are created using conductive rubber compositions and/or other elements to achieve tire tread wear sensing and discharge of electrostatic buildup. Such structures include conductors made of conductive rubber compositions, for example, having an uncured or cured electrical resistance at 23° C. less than about 10 KΩ when formed into a wire about 254 millimeters long and 2 millimeters in diameter.

A tire longitudinal stiffness estimation system includes an electronic communication system disposed on a vehicle. A sensor is disposed on the vehicle in communication with the electronic communication system, and a processor is accessible through the electronic communication system. The sensor measures parameters associated with the vehicle and communicates data for the parameters to the processor. A mu slip curve generator receives the parameters to generate a mu slip curve in real time from the data. An extraction module extracts raw data from a linear portion of the mu slip curve. A denoising module de-noises the raw data from the mu slip curve by determining a vector for the raw data, an orientation of the vector, and a heading of the vector. The denoising module generates de-noised data, and a stiffness calculator receives the de-noised data and generates a longitudinal stiffness estimate for the tire.

The tire fault portion prediction system of this disclosure comprises: a tire running parameter measurement unit, a state characteristic value measurement unit, a degree of fatigue characteristic value calculation unit, and a tire fault portion prediction unit for predicting fault portions of a tire based on a degree of fatigue characteristic value of at least one of the tire constituent members and the tire running parameter. The tire fault portion prediction method of this disclosure comprises: measuring a tire running parameter, measuring state characteristic values, calculating degree of fatigue characteristic values, and predicting fault portions of a tire based on a degree of fatigue characteristic value of at least one of the tire constituent members and the tire running parameter.

In an embodiment, a system for wear monitoring, includes a wear surface, a metallic reflector embedded in the wear surface, a radio-wave transmitter, and a radio-wave receiver. The metallic reflector reflects radio waves transmitted by the radio-wave transmitter for detection by the radio wave receiver. Attenuation of the radio waves between transmission by the radio-wave transmitter and detection by the radio-wave receiver indicates a degree of wear of the wear surface.