Measurement of contact forces and patch features by means of accelerometers fixed inside the tire to improve future car active control

Huge improvements and advances in sensor technology, together with the increasing demand for safety and handling performances, pull research towards new control strategies. Robustness and promptness of sensors used for active control are key requisites. The main idea behind the research presented in this paper is to instrument the tire with appropriate sensors in order to estimate several contact parameters ranging from the kinematic conditions of the tire (the longitudinal slippage and the side slip angle [Fukada, Y., 1999, Slip-angle estimation for vehicle stability control. Vehicle System Dynamics, 32(4–5), 375–388.]) to its dynamic properties (the contact area shape and dimensions as well as the longitudinal, lateral and vertical loads [Cole, D.J. and Cebon, D., 1989, A capacitative strip sensor for measuring dynamic type forces. Proc. of the Second International Conference on Road Traffic Monitoring, London, 38–42; Cole, D.J. and Cebon, D., 1992, Performance and application of a capacitative strip tyre force sensor. Proc of IEE Conference on Road Traffic Monitoring, London, 123–132.]) and to the adhesion characteristics of the road (the surface roughness [Pasterkamp, W.R. and Pacejka, H.B., 1997, The tire as a sensor to estimate friction. Vehicle System Dynamics, 27, 409–422; Pohl, A., Steindl, R. and Reindl, L., 1999, The ‘intelligent tire’ utilizing passive SAW sensorsmeasurement of tire friction. IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, 48(6), 1041–1046; Ray, L.R., 1997, Nonlinear tire force estimation and road friction identification: Simulation and experiments. Automatics, 33(10), 1819–1833.]). Thus, the tire becomes a sensor of tire–road interaction. Clearly, no other measuring device may ever be more robust nor prompt, and anyway closer to the contact area. After a preliminary research in which the pros and cons of the various sensor technologies were taken into account, it was decided to put accelerometers inside the tire. These accelerometers were fixed to the liner and on-board analysis of the acquired data was performed to reduce the amount of data then sent via radio control to a central data processing unit. This unit, through post-elaboration and recombination of the reduced signals coming from the various accelerometers in the tire, estimates some of the above-described contact parameters. In the near future, these contact parameters coming from all four tires and eventually other signals from sensors placed on the vehicle may be used to develop innovative control strategies in order to increase vehicle performances as well as running safety.