Tire damage detection system and method

1. A tire damage detection method comprising:

a tire damage detection stage that comprises:

providing an acquisition device, which is installed on board a motor vehicle equipped with two or more wheels fitted with tires, and which is coupled to a vehicle bus of the motor vehicle, and a processing system storing a predefined tire damage model;

acquiring, by the acquisition device from the vehicle bus, a signal indicative of a speed of a wheel of the motor vehicle;

outputting, by the acquisition device, quantities indicative of the wheel speed;

receiving, by the processing system from the acquisition device, the quantities indicative of the wheel speed;

computing, by the processing system, based on the quantities indicative of the wheel speed, a normalized wheel speed indicative of a ratio of the wheel speed to an average wheel speed indicative of motor vehicle speed; and

detecting, by the processing system, a potential damage to a tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle based on the predefined tire damage model and on the normalized wheel speed;

a preliminary stage that comprises:

performing tests involving test tire impacts against or on different obstacles at different motor vehicle speeds;

acquiring test-related wheel speeds during the performed tests;

computing test-related normalized wheel speeds based on the test-related wheel speeds; and

determining the predefined tire damage model to be used by the processing system in the tire damage detection stage based on the test-related normalized wheel speeds corresponding to the test tire impacts and of associated test-related average wheel speeds.

2. The tire damage detection method of claim 1 , wherein:

the predefined tire damage model includes a set of predefined thresholds related to different average wheel speed values and a set of predefined time lengths related to different average wheel speed values; and

detecting, by the processing system, the potential damage to a tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle includes:

selecting one of the predefined thresholds and one of the predefined time lengths depending on the average wheel speed;

analyzing the normalized wheel speed by means of a sliding time window having the predefined time length selected;

detecting a maximum value and a minimum value of the normalized wheel speed within the sliding time window; and

detecting a potential damage to the tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle if a difference between said maximum and minimum values exceeds the predefined threshold selected.

3. The tire damage detection method of claim 2 , wherein:

the predefined thresholds are related to different average wheel speed values and different tire inflation pressure values, and

in the tire damage detection stage:

acquiring includes acquiring also a signal indicative of a tire inflation pressure of the tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle;

outputting includes outputting also quantities indicative of said tire inflation pressure;

receiving includes receiving also the quantities indicative of the tire inflation pressure; and

selecting includes selecting one of the predefined thresholds depending on the average wheel speed and the tire inflation pressure.

4. A tire damage detection system comprising:

an acquisition device installed onboard a motor vehicle equipped with two or more wheels fitted with tires, wherein the acquisition device is coupled to a vehicle bus of the motor vehicle and configured to acquire, via the vehicle bus, a signal indicative of a speed of a wheel of the motor vehicle;

a processing system configured, in a preliminary stage, to

acquire test-related wheel speeds during performed tests involving test tire impacts against or on different obstacles at different motor vehicle speeds,

compute test-related normalized wheel speeds based on the test-related wheel speeds, and

determine and store a predefined tire damage model to be used in a tire damage detection stage based on the test-related normalized wheel speeds corresponding to the test tire impacts and of associated test-related average wheel speeds;

the processing system further configured, in the tire damage detection stage, to

receive, from the acquisition device, quantities indicative of the wheel speed,

compute, based on the quantities indicative of the wheel speed, a normalized wheel speed indicative of a ratio of the wheel speed to an average wheel speed indicative of motor vehicle speed, and

detect a potential damage to a tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle based on the predefined tire damage model and on the normalized wheel speed.

5. The tire damage detection system of claim 4 , wherein:

the predefined tire damage model includes a set of predefined thresholds related to different average wheel speed values and a set of predefined time lengths related to different average wheel speed values; and

the processing system is further configured to detect the potential damage to the tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle by:

selecting one of the predefined thresholds and one of the predefined time lengths depending on the average wheel speed;

analyzing the normalized wheel speed by means of a sliding time window having the predefined time length selected;

detecting a maximum value and a minimum value of the normalized wheel speed within the sliding time window; and

detecting a potential damage to the tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle if a difference between said maximum and minimum values exceeds the predefined threshold selected.

6. The tire damage detection system of claim 5 , wherein:

the predefined thresholds are related to different average wheel speed values and different tire inflation pressure values, and

the processing system is further configured in the tire damage detection stage to:

further receive quantities from the acquisition device indicative of a tire inflation pressure of the tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle; and

select one of the predefined thresholds depending on the average wheel speed and the tire inflation pressure.

7. The tire damage detection system of claim 4 , further comprising:

a notification device configured to, if a potential damage to the tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle is detected by the processing system, signal the detected potential damage to a user associated with the motor vehicle.

8. The tire damage detection system of claim 7 , wherein the processing system is an electronic control unit installed onboard the motor vehicle.

9. The tire damage detection system of claim 8 , wherein the notification device is a human-machine interface provided onboard the motor vehicle.

10. A cloud computing system wirelessly and remotely connected to an acquisition device installed onboard a motor vehicle equipped with two or more wheels fitted with tires;

wherein the cloud computing system is configured, in a preliminary stage, to

acquire test-related wheel speeds during performed tests involving test tire impacts against or on different obstacles at different motor vehicle speeds,

compute test-related normalized wheel speeds based on the test-related wheel speeds, and

determine and store a predefined tire damage model to be used in a tire damage detection stage based on the test-related normalized wheel speeds corresponding to the test tire impacts and of associated test-related average wheel speeds; and

wherein the cloud computing system is further configured, in the tire damage detection stage, to

receive, from the acquisition device, quantities indicative of a wheel speed,

compute, based on the quantities indicative of the wheel speed, a normalized wheel speed indicative of a ratio of the wheel speed to an average wheel speed indicative of motor vehicle speed, and

detect a potential damage to a tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle based on the predefined tire damage model and on the normalized wheel speed.

11. The cloud computing system of claim 10 , wherein:

the predefined tire damage model includes a set of predefined thresholds related to different average wheel speed values and a set of predefined time lengths related to different average wheel speed values; and

the cloud computing system is further configured to detect the potential damage to the tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle by:

selecting one of the predefined thresholds and one of the predefined time lengths depending on the average wheel speed;

analyzing the normalized wheel speed by means of a sliding time window having the predefined time length selected;

detecting a maximum value and a minimum value of the normalized wheel speed within the sliding time window; and

detecting a potential damage to the tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle if a difference between said maximum and minimum values exceeds the predefined threshold selected.

12. The cloud computing system of claim 11 , wherein:

the predefined thresholds are related to different average wheel speed values and different tire inflation pressure values, and

the cloud computing system is further configured in the tire damage detection stage to:

further receive quantities from the acquisition device indicative of a tire inflation pressure of the tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle; and

select one of the predefined thresholds depending on the average wheel speed and the tire inflation pressure.

13. The cloud computing system of claim 10 , further remotely connected to an electronic communication device associated with a user associated with the motor vehicle, and configured to, if a potential damage to the tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle is detected, signal the detected potential damage to the user associated with the motor vehicle via the electronic communication device.