Numerical Analysis of the Reliability of Tire Pressure Monitoring System Installed on Wheel Hub with Glue

Abstract

More and more research has been done on tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) with the rapid development of automobile industry and increasing public attention to automobile safety. It is generally known that suitable tire pressure is a critical factor in the safe operation, tire wear, gas mileage and performance of a motor vehicle. It is also important to reduce maintenance and logistic cost of a fleet for transportation. In order to help maintaining normal tire pressure, TPMS is designed to monitor air pressure and temperature in the tires of a motor vehicle in real time. The driver is alerted immediately by TPMS when the tire's pressure or temperature is abnormal, so the flat tire accident could be avoided and the driver and passengers are safe. But how to install TPMS on wheel hub, especially with different brands, is a significant problem. In order to reduce the cost of TPMS and simplify the installation process of TPMS, a new method to install TPMS with glue has been put forward. A TPMS installed to wheel hub under tire rolling conditions is supported with a plastic packaging. In order to work well under harsh conditions with high temperature and fast rolling velocity, one type of filling glue is used to encapsulate the space existing in the monitoring system to decrease thermal stress. A reasonable model is established by appropriately simplifying the geometry and material properties of some necessary components in the TPMS and the model's boundary conditions. Stress distribution at different temperatures and velocity are investigated and results have shown the stresses are low enough for TPMS to operate safely