A clamp (100) applicable to a tyre (P) on a vehicle wheel and comprising a body (10) that includes a plurality of arms (11) extending radially from a central axis (X) and angularly distributed about the central axis (X) and a plurality of sliders (20), each slidably coupled to a respective arm (11) to move radially between a retracted position and an extracted position. The clamp (100) also comprises an manoeuvring member (30) connected to the body (10) and a plurality of connecting levers (40) having a first end that is articulated to the manoeuvring member (30) and a second end (40b) that is articulated to a corresponding slider (20) of the plurality of sliders (20) so that a movement of the manoeuvring member (30) corresponds to a movement of the sliders (20). The clamp (100) also comprises a locking device (50), movable between a locked position and an unlocked position, and a handgrip (60) integral with the manoeuvring member (30) and grippable by a user to directly move the manoeuvring member (30) about the central axis (X).

An alignment frame for affixing a sensor configured to measure one or more alignment angles to a wheel of a vehicle can include a pair of arms configured to contact a tire mounted on the wheel to support the alignment frame, a center base configured to receive a first bar, a second bar, and a third bar orthogonally aligned in a linear alignment such that the first bar is at ninety degrees from the horizontal axis defined by the second and the third bar, and a spacer positioned on each of the first, second, and third bars and configured to align the bars with a face of the rim so as to center the center base with respect to the rim of the wheel. The center base can receive a mounting portion of the sensor to center the sensor with the respect to the rim of the wheel.

A wheel clamp (2) for fastening to a wheel (1), in particular to a wheel (1) of a motor vehicle, comprises at least two arms (22, 23, 24) which extend outward from a center (28) of the wheel clamp (2) in a radial direction. Each of the arms (22, 23, 24) has at least one movable element (32, 33, 34) which is movable in the radial direction. The wheel clamp (2) comprises a locking member (82) which is designed such that the movable elements (32, 33, 34), by operation of the locking member (82), can be fixed such that the movable elements (32, 33, 34) are no longer movable in the radial direction. The wheel clamp (2) also comprises an unlocking member (84) which is designed such that a fixation of the movable elements (32, 33, 34) can be released by operation of the unlocking member (84).

A method and apparatus that detect wheel misalignment are provided. The method includes predicting a self-aligning torque parameter based on a regression model determined from a dataset including one or more from among a steering wheel angle parameter, a speed parameter, a torsion bar torque parameter, a lateral acceleration parameter, and a power steering torque parameter, comparing a measured self-aligning torque parameter and the predicted self-aligning torque parameter, and outputting a wheel alignment condition indicating whether the wheel alignment is proper if the self-aligning torque parameter and the predicted self-aligning torque parameter are within a predetermined value based on the comparing.

An apparatus for automatically evaluating chassis or wheel alignment measurement data comprises: a memory device configured to store a number of chassis data records, with each chassis data record containing at least one chassis parameter and a tolerance range allocated to each chassis parameter; a provisioning device configured to provide a data record of current chassis parameters, which comprises at least one current chassis parameter; a selection device configured to select, on the basis of the data record provided by the provisioning device, a subset of chassis data records from the chassis data records stored in the memory device; and a determination device configured to determine the proportion of the chassis data records from the subset of chassis data records for which the current chassis parameter's of the data record provided by the provisioning device are within the specified tolerance ranges.

An apparatus for automatically evaluating chassis or wheel alignment measurement data comprises: a memory device configured to store a number of chassis data records, with each chassis data record containing at least one chassis parameter and a tolerance range allocated to each chassis parameter; a provisioning device configured to provide a data record of current chassis parameters, which comprises at least one current chassis parameter; a selection device configured to select, on the basis of the data record provided by the provisioning device, a subset of chassis data records from the chassis data records stored in the memory device; and a determination device configured to determine the proportion of the chassis data records from the subset of chassis data records for which the current chassis parameter's of the data record provided by the provisioning device are within the specified tolerance ranges.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for the in-situ determination of vehicle wheel position using an inertial measurement unit (IMU). In one aspect as the wheel is rotating, gyroscope measurements are used to find a slip angle defined between the direction of wheel travel and the direction of vehicle travel, to determine a toe alignment condition for the wheel. System and methods are also presented for using an accelerometer to measure slip angle and camber angle. Using an accelerometer or gyroscope, instantaneous wheel angle measurements can also be made to predict vehicle movement, and aid in autonomous steering and in-situ wheel alignment adjustments.

A device and method for centering a vehicle in a test stand having at least two pairs of rollers for supporting at least one of the front wheels and the rear wheels of the vehicle, and a measurement system. A controller is connected to the steering system of the vehicle, with which the steering angle of at least one of the front wheels and the rear wheels can be changed in accordance with data of the measurement system.

A device and method for centering a vehicle in a test stand having at least two pairs of rollers for supporting at least one of the front wheels and the rear wheels of the vehicle, and a measurement system. A controller is connected to the steering system of the vehicle, with which the steering angle of at least one of the front wheels and the rear wheels can be changed in accordance with data of the measurement system.

A method of balancing an assembly of a wheel and a tire, may include measuring a maximum-value position of RFV of a tire and marking the measured maximum-value position, as a tire reference position, measuring each of the internal runout and external runout of the wheel, extracting a primary component of a waveform of the measured internal runout and a primary component of a waveform of the measured external runout and setting the former and latter measured primary components to be internal and external runout waveforms, respectively, synthesizing the internal and external runout waveforms and marking a minimum-value position on a synthesis waveform resulting from the synthesizing, as a wheel reference position, and aligning the tire reference position on the tire and the wheel reference position on the wheel to have the same phase and assembling the wheel and the tire.