System and method for detecting a rapid leak from a tire

1. A method of detecting a rapid leak of gas contained in an automobile tire based on periodic measurements of a pressure Pa and a temperature Ta of the gas, the method comprising:

determining a reference pressure Pcref;

calibrating a safety threshold So as a function of the precision of a pressure sensor used to measure pressure Pa, the precision of a temperature sensor used to measure temperature Ta, and the response time of the temperature sensor over each measurement acquisition period;

calculating an alarm threshold pressure Sref from the reference pressure Pcref, wherein the alarm threshold pressure Sref is determined as a function of the safety threshold So;

calculating a temperature-compensated pressure Pc at each measurement acquisition period; and

comparing the compensated pressure Pc with the alarm threshold pressure Sref, wherein the leak is detected if the compensated pressure Pc is less than the alarm threshold pressure Sref.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the reference pressure Pcref is measured in a cold state and is temperature-compensated.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the compensated pressure is calculated in accordance with a formula Pc=Pa*T 20 /Ta, wherein T 20 is a reference Kelvin temperature.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the reference pressure Pcref is measured at at least one of a predetermined time after a last stop and at a time of ignition of a vehicle including the tire.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the safety threshold So ranges between 2% and 25% of a nominal pressure of the tires.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the alarm threshold pressure is calculated in accordance with a formula Sref=Pcref−So.

7. A system for detecting a rapid leak of gas contained in an automobile tire based on periodic measurements of a pressure Pa and a temperature Ta of the gas, the system comprising:

a tire pressure monitoring system configured to transmit temperature information and pressure information; and

a leak detection computing system configured to;

calibrate a safety threshold So as a function of the precision of a pressure sensor used to measure pressure Pa, the precision of a temperature sensor used to measure temperature Ta, and the response time of the temperature sensor over each measurement acciuisition period;

receive the temperature information and pressure information;

determine a reference pressure Pcref and calculate an alarm threshold pressure Sref from the reference pressure Pcref, wherein the alarm threshold pressure Sref is determined as a function of the safety threshold,

calculate a temperature-compensated pressure Pc at each measurement acquisition period, and

compare the compensated pressure Pc with the alarm threshold pressure Sref, wherein the leak is detected if the compensated pressure Pc is less than the alarm threshold pressure Sref.

8. The system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the reference pressure Pcref is measured in a cold state and is temperature-compensated.

9. The system as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the compensated pressure Pc is calculated in accordance with a formula Pc=Pa*T 20 /Ta, wherein T 20 is a reference Kelvin temperature.

10. The system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the reference pressure Pcref is measured at at least one of a predetermined time after a last stop and at a time of ignition of a vehicle including the tire.

11. The system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the safety threshold So ranges between 2% and 25% of a nominal pressure of the tires.

12. The system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the alarm threshold pressure is calculated in accordance with a formula Sref=Pcref−So.

13. A program product for detecting a rapid leak of gas contained in an automobile tire based on periodic measurements of a pressure Pa and a temperature Ta of the gas, comprising machine-readable program code for causing, when executed, one or more machines to perform the following method steps, the method comprising:

determining a reference pressure;

calibrating a safety threshold as a functions of the precision of a pressure sensor used to measure pressure Pa, the precision of a temperature sensor used to measure temperature Ta, and the response time of the temperature sensor over each measurement acquisition period;

calculating an alarm threshold pressure from the reference pressure Pcref, wherein the alarm threshold pressure is determined as a function of the safety threshold;

calculating a temperature-compensated pressure at each measurement acquisition period; and

comparing the temperature-compensated pressure with the alarm threshold pressure, wherein the leak is detected if the temperature-compensated pressure is less than the alarm threshold pressure.

14. The system as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the reference pressure is measured in a cold state and is temperature-compensated.

15. The system as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the compensated pressure is calculated in accordance with temperature-compensated pressure equal to an absolute pressure times a reference Kelvin temperature divided by absolute temperature of the gas in the tire.

16. The system as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the reference pressure is measured at at least one of a predetermined time after a last stop or at a time of ignition of a vehicle including the tire.

17. The system as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the alarm threshold pressure is calculated in accordance with a formula Sref=Pcref−So.