Method and apparatus for measuring the dynamic camber of vehicle tyres

摘要

An apparatus and method uses a pair of transducers, such as lasers, mounted on the tire/wheel assembly of a moving vehicle for measuring the actual angles of camber experienced by the vehicle tire as the vehicle moves along an actual road surface. The pair of lasers are mounted in a predetermined horizontal spaced relationship on a bracket mounted on and extending perpendicularly outwardly from a non-rotating hub mounted on the tire/wheel assembly. The reflected laser beams from the pair of lasers are continually measured as the vehicle moves along the road surface. The reflected beams determine the change in spacings of the two lasers above the road surface from which can be calculated the angles of camber continuously imparted on the tire/wheel assembly. This data is collected and stored in a computer located in the vehicle and captures the tire's operating camber angles with respect to an actual road surface when used on a particular vehicle. The stored data is later supplied to tire test equipment at a remote test facility to duplicate the actual road camber experienced on the test tire on other test tires at the test facility to simulate the real-world environment for a particular tire on a particular vehicle without repeating the more costly tests on the actual moving vehicle at a remote test track. <IMAGE>