Tire sidewall load estimation system and method

摘要

A method and system of estimating a load on a vehicle tire (10) is disclosed. The method comprises: attaching at least one deformation measuring sensor (20, 22) to at least one sidewall (26, 28) of the vehicle tire (12) for generating a cyclical deformation signal having a signal power level indicative of a deformation of the one sidewall in the tire under a rolling condition; attaching a tire inflation pressure measuring sensor to the vehicle tire for measuring tire inflation pressure within a tire cavity (24) and generating detected inflation level data; electronically storing power-to-load maps adjusted for tire inflation pressure for the tire (12) for correlating a range of load levels to a range of signal power levels whereby operatively enabling a load level to be identified for each signal power level adjusted for tire inflation pressure; measuring a detected signal power level of a deformation signal from the deformation measuring sensor; measuring a detected inflation level from the tire cavity by means of the tire inflation pressure measuring sensor; and extracting from the signal power-to-load maps a tire pressure level-adjusted estimated load level corresponding to a detected signal power level.