A method for estimating a degree of wear of a tire by using: an index of deformation velocity at a tire contact edge or in the vicinity of the tire contact edge, the index of deformation velocity having been calculated from magnitude of one of or both of positive and negative peaks appearing in a radial acceleration waveform obtained by differentiating a time-series waveform of tire radial acceleration detected by an acceleration sensor; a contact time ratio of contact time to tire rotation time, the contact time being a time interval between the positive peak and the negative peak, the tire rotation time being a time interval between either of positive peaks or negative peaks; and a deformation amount which is a difference between a tire radius of the tire under a non-loaded state and an effective radius of the tire during travelling.

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.

The invention concerns a tire damage detection system (1,1A) that includes an acquisition device (11), a processing system (12,12A) and a notification device (13,13A). The acquisition device (11) is installed on board a motor vehicle (2) equipped with two or more wheels fitted with tires, is coupled to a vehicle bus (20) of the motor vehicle (2), and is configured to acquire, from the vehicle bus (20), a signal indicative of a speed of a wheel of the motor vehicle (2) and output quantities indicative of the wheel speed. The processing system (12,12A) is configured to store a predefined tire damage model and to receive, from the acquisition device (11), the quantities indicative of the wheel speed, and is programmed to compute, based on the quantities indicative of the wheel speed, a normalized wheel speed indicative of a ratio of the wheel speed to an average wheel speed indicative of motor vehicle speed, and detect a potential damage to a tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle (2) based on the predefined tire damage model and on the normalized wheel speed. The notification device (13,13A) is configured to, if a potential damage to the tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle (2) is detected by the processing system (12,12A), signal the detected potential damage to a user (3) associated with the motor vehicle (2). In particular, according to the present invention, the processing system (12) is a cloud computing system (12A) that is wirelessly and remotely connected to the acquisition device (11), while the notification device (13) is an electronic communication device (13A) associated with the user (3) and remotely connected to the cloud computing system (12A) via one or more wired and/or wireless networks.

A method for determining a tread depth of a tread of a tire during operation of a vehicle having the tire, a control device for a vehicle for determining a tread depth of a tread of a tire of the vehicle, and a system for a vehicle having such a control device and at least one electronic wheel unit, are provided. Provision is made to determine the tread depth based on a determined instantaneous dynamic wheel radius of a wheel, having the tire, of the vehicle and a determined instantaneous dynamic inside radius of the tire. In addition, at least one further first operating parameter of the tire, selected from the group including an instantaneous roadway gradient, an instantaneous vehicle drive mode and an instantaneous tire material expansion, is determined and taken into consideration.

A tire system includes a tire side device that is arranged corresponding to a tire provided in a vehicle and transmits data related to the tire, and a wear estimation unit that estimates a tire wear state based on the data related to the tire. The tire side device holds data related to an elapsed time since the tire was manufactured as data related to the tire, transmits data related to the elapsed time to the wear estimation unit. The wear estimation unit estimates the tire wear state based on the mileage from the start of use of the tire and a tire deterioration degree indicated by the data related to the elapsed time.

The disclosed technology includes a system comprising a tire-mounted inertial measurement unit (IMU). The IMU can be configured to measure linear acceleration data and angular velocity data associated with a tire, and the system can be configured to determine various indicators of tire health based on the linear acceleration data and angular velocity data. The system can be configured to determine a distance between the IMU and an outer rolling surface of the tire. The system can be configured to monitor changes in this distance over time, which can be indicative of tread wear over time. Accordingly, the system can be configured to monitor change in the tread depth over time such that the system is configured to monitor tread depth of the tire.

A method for detecting a wear-relevant load on a vehicle wheel uses a tire pressure monitoring unit mounted on the vehicle wheel containing an acceleration sensor. A rotational frequency of the vehicle wheel is determined for a time interval from a series of measured values of the acceleration sensor at first time intervals. A centrifugal acceleration value is determined for the time interval. A proportionality factor is determined from the rotational frequency and centrifugal acceleration value, linking the square of the rotational frequency with the centrifugal acceleration. A rotational frequency of the wheel is continuously calculated from measured values of the centrifugal acceleration, which have been determined at second time intervals that are greater than the first time intervals, and from the proportionality factor. A load value is respectively calculated from the rotational frequency and the second time intervals. These load values are continuously added up to an overall load.

A load estimation system for a tire is provided. The tire includes a pair of sidewalls extending to a circumferential tread and supports a vehicle. A sensor is mounted to the tire and measures an inflation pressure of the tire and a footprint length of the tread. A vehicle loading state estimator determines a loading state of the vehicle. An inflation correction factor is determined from the vehicle loading state. A pressure correction module receives the measured footprint length, the measured inflation pressure, and the inflation correction factor, and determines an adjusted footprint length. A de-noising module processor receives the adjusted footprint length to generate a filtered footprint length, and a wear correction module receives the filtered footprint length and corrects for wear of the tire to generate a wear-corrected footprint length. A load determination model receives the wear-corrected footprint length and determines an estimated load on the tire.

A counter-deflection load estimation system for a tire is provided. The tire includes a pair of sidewalls extending to a circumferential tread and supporting a vehicle, and the vehicle includes a controlled area network bus. In the system, a sensor is mounted to the tire and measures a parameter of the tire. A counter-deflection of the tire is determined from the measured parameter, and a linear vehicle speed signal is received through the controlled area network bus. A processor is in electronic communication with the sensor and with the controlled area network bus. A load estimation module is in electronic communication with the processor, receives the linear vehicle speed signal and the counter-deflection of the tire, and determines a load on the tire.

A method for determining a tire tread wear estimation of a tire includes receiving, by a controller, a direct tire tread wear measurement, when available, performing an indirect tire tread wear estimation, performing a data fusion of the indirect tire tread wear estimation with the direct tire tread wear measurement when available, estimating a percentage tire life remaining and a mileage to end of tire life, and estimating a refined tire tread wear calibration coefficient for performing future indirect tire tread wear estimations.