Abstract
Modern vehicles are using control and safety driving algorithms fed by various evaluations such as wheel speeds or road environmental conditions. Wheel load evaluation could be useful for such algorithms, particularly for extreme vehicle loading or uneven loads. For now, smart tires are only equipped by tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) and temperature sensors. Manufacturers are still working on in-tire sensors, such as load sensors, to create the next generation of smart tires. The present work aims at demonstrating that a static tire instrumented with an internal optical fiber allows the wheel load estimation for every wheel angular position. Experiments have been carried out with a static tire loaded with a hydraulic press and instrumented with both an internal optical fiber and an embedded laser. Load estimation is performed both from tire deflection and contact patch length evaluations. For several applied loads from 2800 to 4800 N, optical fiber load estimation is realized with a relative error of 1% to 3%, almost as precisely as that with the embedded laser, but with the advantage of the load estimation regardless of the wheel angular position. In perspective, the developed methodology based on an in-tire optical fiber could be used for continuous wheel load estimation for moving vehicles, benefiting control and on-board safety systems.
Highlights
Context and General AimVehicle load measurement is a key technological issue, especially in automotive and road freight fields
The health of roads and infrastructures, fuel consumption and driving safety are all linked to the vehicle load
Infrastructure sustainability is highly related to wheel loading, especially for extreme temperature situations, since rutting or frost issues are amplified by high loads
Summary
Vehicle load measurement is a key technological issue, especially in automotive and road freight fields. The present work aims at introducing a new embedded load sensor for a non-rolling vehicle whatever the wheel angular position. It is of importance for an autonomous or driven vehicle that the load and its distribution could be checked before taking the risk of starting travel with inadequate load conditions. The proposed sensor is based on an optical fiber bonded along the tire inner liner circumference This new sensor makes it possible that the spatial circumferential strain profile measurement for a non-rolling vehicle. From this profile, the vertical load applied onto the tire is computed. The load estimation method is exposed and the results are discussed
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