A bead exerciser system for an automated wheel assembly may include a center lift configured to lift a wheel assembly off of a conveyor belt, a drum roller configured to rotate the wheel assembly, a pair of pinch rollers driven by a driver and configured to apply force to a tire of the wheel assembly, a force sensor configured to detect a force of the tire against the pinch rollers, and a controller configured to receive the force from the force sensor and generate a command for an alert in response to the force falling outside of a predefined threshold range.

Apparatus and method for mounting a tire on a wheel rim and/or for removing a tire from a vehicle wheel rim. Such an apparatus is usually known as a tire changer. The tire changer of the present invention is capable of verifying that the position of the inflation valve and/or of the TPMS sensor of the wheel, relative to the position of the portions of tire most subject to stresses and/or relative to the position of the mounting/demounting tools, as well as the intensity of such stresses, lie within ranges defined as acceptable. The result of such verifications is then made available via a suitable report document.

A bead exerciser system for an automated wheel assembly may include a center lift configured to lift a wheel assembly off of a conveyor belt, a drum roller configured to rotate the wheel assembly, a pair of pinch rollers driven by a driver and configured to apply force to a tire of the wheel assembly, a force sensor configured to detect a force of the tire against the pinch rollers, and a controller configured to receive the force from the force sensor and generate a command for an alert in response to the force falling outside of a predefined threshold range.

Methods, Apparatus, and Articles of Manufacture are disclosed for determining a tread depth status of a tire of a vehicle, including an accelerometer interface to access acceleration data from an accelerometer associated with the tire, the acceleration data including first acceleration data indicative of acceleration in a first direction, second acceleration data indicative of acceleration in a second direction, and third acceleration data indicative of acceleration in a third direction, and a data segmenter to segment the first acceleration data into a first data segment, the second acceleration data into a second data segment, and the third acceleration data into a third data segment based on at least one of an acceleration cycle or a common time interval.

Methods, Apparatus, and Articles of Manufacture are disclosed for determining a tread depth status of a tire of a vehicle, including an accelerometer interface to access acceleration data from an accelerometer associated with the tire, the acceleration data including first acceleration data indicative of acceleration in a first direction, second acceleration data indicative of acceleration in a second direction, and third acceleration data indicative of acceleration in a third direction, and a data segmenter to segment the first acceleration data into a first data segment, the second acceleration data into a second data segment, and the third acceleration data into a third data segment based on at least one of an acceleration cycle or a common time interval.

A bead exerciser system for an automated wheel assembly may include a center lift configured to lift a wheel assembly off of a conveyor belt, a drum roller configured to rotate the wheel assembly, a pair of pinch rollers driven by a driver and configured to apply force to a tire of the wheel assembly, a force sensor configured to detect a force of the tire against the pinch rollers, and a controller configured to receive the force from the force sensor and generate a command for an alert in response to the force falling outside of a predefined threshold range.

The present invention concerns a machine for treating a tired wheel, for example a machine for assembly and/or disassembly of a tired wheel, as well as a method for treating a tired wheel, for example an assembly and/or disassembly method.

An apparatus for use in measuring a parameter is provided that includes a pry end, a handle, and a sensor that detects a parameter imparted onto the apparatus when the handle is grasped and the pry end is between a tire and a wheel. An output member is also included that outputs the parameter received from the sensor. The handle, the sensor and the output member are part of an electronic torque wrench.

A tire changer machine, and method of operation, configured to enable a single operator to carry out tire change procedures for a set of wheel assemblies by interleaving wheel assembly balancing procedures on a wheel balancer machine with an automated tire demount process carried out under direction of a control system of the tire changer without continuous operator input or supervision.

A vehicle monitoring system monitors a vehicle characteristic and, from the monitoring, determines the state of a vehicle component. The system may set an alert and may communicate that alert to a user or supervisory authority. The state of the vehicle component may relate to a vehicle tire and to the potential delamination of a tire.