Non contact wheel alignment sensor and method

摘要

A method of determining alignment characteristics of a tire and wheel assembly mounted on a vehicle comprises projecting a plurality of light planes onto a tire and wheel assembly to form a plurality of generally parallel illumination lines on a tire of the tire and wheel assembly including either an identifiable gap between a pair of the illumination lines or one of said illumination lines being thicker than the other illumination lines. A reflected image of at least some of the illumination lines is received with a photo electric device, the photo electric device receiving images of the illumination lines reflected from the tire including either the pair of the illumination lines forming the identifiable gap or the thicker illumination line. The identity and location of the illumination lines is resolved and a plane defined by spatial coordinates from the illumination lines imaged by said photo electric device is determined, the plane representing the orientation of the tire and wheel assembly.