Intelligent tire inflation and deflation system apparatus

摘要

An intelligent tire pressure management system capable of real-time tire pressure monitoring, vehicle load detection, and automatic tire inflation and deflation for maintaining optimal tire pressure in a commercial vehicle. Additional functions include counting tire rotations for calculating and recording distance travelled for each tire, and detecting wheel sliding due to locked-up tires. The system includes a chassis-mounted control box connecting to the vehicle air supply, a hubcap-mounted dual wheel valve apparatus integrated with a rotary union assembly that connects through the vehicle hollowed axles to the air tubes from the control box. The inflation/deflation supporting dual wheel valve apparatus has an embedded electronic unit that monitors individual tire pressure and temperature in real time, and communicates with the control box over the power line. Furthermore a load sensor integrated with the control box provides the system with the current vehicle load information. With readily available real time tire pressure data and current vehicle load information, this system can intelligently adjusts tire pressure to the desired level when necessary and, as a result, prolongs tire life, improves fuel economy, reduces the vehicle maintenance costs, and promptly alerts the driver of low, leaky or flat tire conditions for enabling the driver to take immediate corrective actions.

主权项

1. A rotary wheel valve assembly to be utilized in a tire inflation and deflation system on a vehicle with dual tires, comprising:
[A] rotary union means, comprising:
[I] a casing defining a chamber, said casing having an air passage outlet connecting to said chamber;[II] a shaft rotatably mounted in said chamber, said shaft having a central air passageway, said shaft having a seal face with a central hole one end and an air inlet on the other end, said shaft air inlet end extending beyond said chamber;[III] a second seal face fitting inside said chamber in an airtight sealing engagement to said shaft seal face, said second seal face having a central hole for air communication with said shaft air passageway and said casing air outlet, whereby establishing air communication between said shaft air inlet and said casing air outlet; [B] wheel valve means, comprising:
[I] a valve body having an air inlet passageway and an air outlet passageway;[II] a bottom chamber in said valve body connecting to said air inlet passageway;[III] a middle chamber in said valve body separating from said bottom chamber by a flexible diaphragm, connecting to said air inlet passageway through an orifice, having:
(a) a piston movable within said middle chamber, said piston engaging to said diaphragm for movement with said diaphragm;(b) a valve seat;[IV] a top chamber disposed proximate to said middle chamber, having:
(a) air passageway means connecting to said air outlet passageway;(b) a poppet sitting on said valve seat and separating the top chamber and the middle chamber, said poppet engaging said piston in the middle chamber and movable relative to said piston;(c) spring means compressively urging said poppet toward seating disposition; [C] housing means, attachable to a hubcap for rotation with said hubcap, comprising:
[I] two cavities, each containing a said wheel valve;[II] a space for containing said rotary union;[III] air inlet means for air communication to source air;[IV] air outlet means for air communication to said dual tires;[V] air passageway means establishing air communication for said rotary union, wheel valves, air inlet and air outlets.