METHOD FOR TESTING THE TIRE PRESSURE OF A VEHICLE

Abstract

A method for checking the tire pressure of a vehicle (1), which vehicle comprises at least one vehicle wheel (3) and a vehicle body (2) which is supported elastically on the vehicle wheel (3). The wheel includes a tire (7), filled with gas, on which wheel the vehicle stands on a subsurface (8). The vehicle body (2) is loaded with an additional mass and thereby the vehicle body is stimulated into a mechanical oscillation (16) relative to the subsurface (8). A response signal (A), that characterizes the mechanical oscillation (16), is measured and analyzed, whereby at least one response value that characterizes the current gas pressure in the tire is determined.

Claims

1-10. (canceled)

11. A method for checking tire pressure of a vehicle (1), which vehicle comprises at least one vehicle wheel (3) and a vehicle body (2) which is supported elastically on the vehicle wheel (3), the wheel including a tire (7) filled with gas and the vehicle is supported by a subsurface (8) via the tire (7), the method comprising: loading the vehicle body (2) with an additional mass and thereby the vehicle body (2) is stimulated into a mechanical oscillation (16) relative to the subsurface (8), and measuring and analyzing a response signal (A), that characterizes the mechanical oscillation (16) so that at least one response value (ω.sub.max, F.sub.max) that characterizes a current gas pressure in the tire (7) is determined.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising comparing the at least one response value (ω.sub.max, F.sub.max) with at least one predetermined reference value (ω.sub.ref, F.sub.ref) which is associated with a reference pressure of the gas.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising characterizing a deviation of the current gas pressure from the reference pressure by a difference (V) between the at least one response value (ω.sub.max, F.sub.max) and the at least one reference value (ω.sub.ref, F.sub.ref).

14. The method according to claim 12, further comprising characterizing the oscillation behavior of the vehicle body (2), when the gas is at its reference pressure, by the at least one reference value (ω.sub.ref, F.sub.ref).

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein when the gas is at its reference pressure, loading the vehicle body (2) with a reference additional mass and thereby stimulating the vehicle body (2) into a reference mechanical oscillation relative to the subsurface, and measuring and analyzing a reference response signal that characterizes the reference mechanical oscillation so that the at least one reference value (ω.sub.ref, F.sub.ref) is determined.

16. The method according to claim 11, further comprising, for analyzing the response signal (A), transforming the response signal (A) or a signal derived therefrom into a frequency range, and the at least one response value (ω.sub.max, F.sub.max) forms at least one value from a spectrum of the response signal (A).

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising associating the at least one response value (ω.sub.max, F.sub.max) with at least one maximum in the spectrum of the response signal (A).

18. The method according to claim 16, further comprising including an amplitude value in the spectrum of the response signal (A) and/or at least one frequency value (F.sub.max) in the spectrum of the response signal (A) for the at least one response value (F.sub.max).

19. The method according to claim 11, further comprising providing at least one acceleration sensor (17), in the vehicle body, by which the response signal (A) is measured, which signal represents accelerations occurring in the vehicle body (2).

20. The method according to claim 11, further comprising loading the vehicle body (2) with the additional occurs when a person (13) gets into the vehicle (1).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] Below, the invention is described with reference to a preferred embodiment, having regard to the drawings, which show:

[0031] FIG. 1: A schematic representation of a vehicle with tires, and

[0032] FIG. 2: A schematic flow chart to explain a method for checking the reference pressure, according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0033] FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a vehicle 1 with a vehicle body (bodywork) 2 and a plurality of vehicle wheels 3, each of the latter comprising a wheel rim 6 mounted on a wheel carrier 4 to rotate about a wheel rotation axis 5 and, around the wheel rim, a tire 7 which is standing on a subsurface 8 and which is filled with a gas, the gas preferably being air. The vehicle body 2 is supported elastically by means of vehicle springs 9 on the wheel carriers 4. In addition the vehicle body 2 has a passenger compartment 10 and a vehicle door 11, by way of which access to the passenger compartment can be enabled. Associated with the vehicle 1 are a longitudinal vehicle direction x, a transverse vehicle direction y and an upward vehicle direction z, these directions x, y and z being represented schematically by a co-ordinate system. Furthermore, an arrow 12 shows the usual forward-travel direction of the vehicle 1 which, in particular, extends in the longitudinal vehicle direction x.

[0034] In FIG. 1, a person 13 can be seen in the passenger compartment 10, who is also referred to as the occupant of the vehicle. In particular, the person 13 is the driver of the vehicle 1. When the person 13 gets into the passenger compartment 10, the total weight of the vehicle body 2 increases abruptly, since the bodyweight of the person 13 is added to the weight of the vehicle body 2. Thereby, the vehicle spring 9 is abruptly compressed so that the vehicle body 2 is stimulated into a mechanical oscillation in the upward direction z of the vehicle which, depending on the design, corresponds in particular to the vertical direction. A response signal that characterizes the oscillation of the vehicle body 2 is measured by means of an acceleration sensor 14 provided in the vehicle body 2, which sensor is connected to a computer unit 15 by which, from the response signal, a response value that characterizes the oscillation behavior of the vehicle body 2 is determined and compared with at least one reference value that characterizes a corresponding oscillation when the gas in the tire 7 is at a reference pressure. If the at least one response value matches the at least one reference value within specified tolerance limits, it can be concluded that the gas pressure in the tire corresponds to the reference pressure, so that the tire is roadworthy. On the other hand, if the at least one response value differs from the at least one reference value by an amount outside the specified tolerance limits, then it can be concluded that the gas pressure in the tire does not correspond to the reference pressure so that, in particular, the tire 7 is not roadworthy.

[0035] The determination of the at least one response value preferably takes place in the frequency range. For this, the response signal is transformed into the frequency range, preferably by means of a discrete Fourier transformation, and the at least one response value is determined from the spectrum of the response signal. This will be explained in greater detail with reference to FIG. 2.

[0036] In FIG. 2, the tire 7 is represented schematically as a spring between the wheel rim 6 and the subsurface 8. When the person 13 gets into the passenger compartment 10, a stimulus signal S in the form of a first bounce is initiated in the vehicle body 2, which stimulates the vehicle body 2 into a mechanical oscillation as indicated by the double arrow 16. The, or a response signal A that characterizes the oscillation is measured by the acceleration sensor 14 and sent to the computer unit 15, which contains a transformation unit 17 by means of which the response signal A is transformed, in particular, by a discrete Fourier transformation into the frequency range. The transformed response signal F describes a spectrum (frequency spectrum) and is sent to an evaluation unit 18 by means of which at least one maximum of the spectrum is determined and the associated values, which form the response values that characterize the oscillation, are determined in the form of at least one frequency value ω.sub.max and at least one amplitude value F.sub.max. Thus, the response values form or include at least one response tuple that includes a frequency value and an amplitude value. In this case, the response tuple includes, in particular, the frequency value ω.sub.max and the amplitude value F.sub.max. The computer unit 15 has access to a memory unit 19, in which reference values are stored, which include at least one reference frequency value ω.sub.ref and at least one reference amplitude value F.sub.ref which characterize the oscillation when the gas is at its reference pressure. Thus, the reference values form or include at least one reference tuple that includes a frequency value and an amplitude value. In this case, the reference value tuple includes, in particular, the frequency value ω.sub.ref and the amplitude value F.sub.ref. The response values ω.sub.max and F.sub.max and the reference values ω.sub.ref and F.sub.ref are sent to a comparison unit 20 and compared with one another, after which the comparison result V, which characterizes a deviation of the current actual gas pressure from the reference pressure, is emitted.

Indexes

[0037] 1 Vehicle [0038] 2 Vehicle body [0039] 3 Vehicle wheel [0040] 4 Wheel carrier [0041] 5 Wheel rotation axis [0042] 6 Wheel rim [0043] 7 Tire [0044] 8 Subsurface [0045] 9 Vehicle spring [0046] 10 Passenger compartment [0047] 11 Vehicle door [0048] 12 Travel direction [0049] 13 Person/vehicle occupant [0050] 14 Acceleration sensor [0051] 15 Computer unit [0052] 16 Oscillation [0053] 17 Transformation unit [0054] 18 Evaluation unit [0055] 19 Memory unit [0056] 20 Comparison unit [0057] x Longitudinal direction of the vehicle [0058] y Transverse direction of the vehicle [0059] z Vertical direction of the vehicle [0060] A Response signal [0061] V Comparison result