Modeling and Simulation of Thermal-mechanical Characteristics of the Packaging of Tire Pressure Monitoring System(TPMS)

Abstract

Correct tire pressure is a critical factor in the safe operation and performance of a motor vehicle. Over inflated tires often result in unnecessary tire wear, reduced gas mileage, and less than optimal vehicle performance. Under inflated tires typically result in increased tire wear, decreased vehicle performance, and compromise the ability of the tires to maintain a safe interface with the road. A tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) is designed to monitor air pressure and temperature in the tires of a motor vehicle, and that generates a signal indicative of the tire pressure and temperature in each of the tires to increase the vehicle performance and safety. A TPMS mounted to tire rings under tire rolling conditions is presented with a plastic packaging. In order to increase the reliability of the monitoring system, one type of filling glue is used to encapsulate the space existing in the monitoring system. The modeling and numerical simulation for the TPMS with various rolling conditions is conducted to investigate the thermo-mechanical characteristics of the packaging. In our design, the focus is on the selection of the filling glue; also the temperature effect on the materials' mechanical properties is included in the study. A reasonable model is obtained by appropriate simplification of geometry and material properties of the needed components in the TPMS. Stresses and deformation at different temperatures are predicted and results have shown the stresses in our design are low enough for TMPS to operate safely under harsh road conditions