Ultrasonic measurement of motor vehicle wheel roller bearing separation distances, uses an array of ultrasonic transducers, to determine forces acting on individual tires to improve driving comfort and safety

摘要

Device comprises fixed ultrasound emitters (21) and fixed ultrasound receivers (22) which send and receive ultrasound beams that reflect from a bearing reference surface (31). Any change in distance traveled by the beam is reflected in a phase change or time of flight change between emitted and received signal. In order to determine bearing displacement an array of ultrasound sensors can be placed at angular separations around the bearing and axial and radial displacements measured. The measured bearing displacement is related to the spring characteristic curve of the wheel bearing to calculate forces on the bearing and therefore on the wheel and tire.