Granted Patent B2

US 12,601,657 · App. 18/280,443 · Granted Apr 14, 2026

Inventor: Thomas Anthony Sams (Hartville, OH)

Assignee: Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC

G01M17/02G01P7/00

Abstract

Claims (45)

1 . A computer-implemented method for estimating at least one force acting upon at least one tire mounted on a vehicle, the method comprising:

a) detecting an acceleration waveform of a tire in a tire radial direction from sampled outputs of a tire-mounted acceleration sensor;

b) integrating the acceleration waveform in the tire radial direction to generate a velocity waveform;

c) calculating a number of samples during ground contact from at least first and second peaks in the velocity waveform;

d) calculating a ground contact length based on at least the calculated number of samples during ground contact, a sampling rate of the outputs of the tire-mounted acceleration sensor, and a velocity of the vehicle;

e) estimating at least one force acting on the tire from the calculated ground contact length; and

f) generating an output signal corresponding to the estimated at least one force acting on the tire.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

performing each of steps a) to f) for each of a plurality of acceleration sensors mounted laterally across an inner liner of the tire;

calculating changes in ground contact length with respect to a respective width between two or more of the plurality of acceleration sensors; and

estimating the at least one force on the tire based on the calculated changes in ground contact length with respect to a respective width between two or more of the plurality of acceleration sensors.

3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the estimated at least one force comprises one or more of a slip angle on the tire and an inclination angle.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein:

the estimated at least one force acting upon the tire comprises a load;

at least one map representing a relationship between the ground contact length, the velocity of the vehicle, and the load acting on the tire is predetermined and retrievably stored, and

in step e), the load acting on the tire is estimated from the calculated ground contact length, the velocity of the vehicle, and the map.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the output signal is provided to a user interface associated with the vehicle for display to a user of the vehicle.

6 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the output signal is provided to a user interface associated with a remote computing device via a fleet management telematics platform.

7 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the output signal is provided to a vehicle control unit.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein the estimated load is utilized as an input to a tire wear detection model.

9 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein the estimated load is utilized as an input to a tire traction detection model.

10 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein the estimated load is utilized as an input to a tire durability and health model.

11 . A system for estimating at least one force acting on at least one tire mounted on a vehicle, the system comprising:

a tire-mounted acceleration sensor configured to generate output signals corresponding to sampled acceleration of a tire in a tire radial direction; and

a controller linked for communication with the tire-mounted acceleration sensor and further configured to direct the performance of operations comprising:

detect an acceleration waveform of the tire in the tire radial direction from sampled outputs of the tire-mounted acceleration sensor;

integrating the acceleration waveform in the tire radial direction to generate a velocity waveform;

calculate a number of samples during ground contact from at least first and second peaks in the velocity waveform;

calculate a ground contact length based on at least the calculated number of samples during ground contact, a sampling rate of the outputs of the tire-mounted acceleration sensor, and a velocity of the vehicle;

estimate at least one force acting on the tire from the calculated ground contact length; and

generate an output signal corresponding to the estimated at least one force acting on the tire.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations are performed for each of a plurality of acceleration sensors mounted laterally across an inner liner of the tire, and the controller is further configured to:

calculate changes in ground contact length with respect to a respective width between two or more of the plurality of acceleration sensors; and

estimate the at least one force on the tire based on the calculated changes in ground contact length with respect to a respective width between two or more of the plurality of acceleration sensors.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the estimated at least one force comprises one or more of a slip angle on the tire and an inclination angle.

14 . The system of claim 11 , wherein:

the estimated at least one force acting upon the tire comprises a load;

at least one map representing a relationship between the ground contact length, the velocity of the vehicle, and the load acting on the tire is predetermined and retrievably stored, and

in step e), the load acting on the tire is estimated from the calculated ground contact length, the velocity of the vehicle, and the map.

15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the output signal is provided to a user interface associated with the vehicle for display to a user of the vehicle.

16 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the output signal is provided to a user interface associated with a remote computing device via a fleet management telematics platform.

17 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the output signal is provided to a vehicle control unit.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the estimated load is utilized as an input to a tire wear detection model.

19 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the estimated load is utilized as an input to a tire traction detection model.

20 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the estimated load is utilized as an input to a tire durability and health model.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (27)