Yokohama Launches ‘Intelligent TPMS’

(Akron/Tire Review) Yokohama Rubber Co. has released its Intelligent Tire Pressure Monitoring System (Intelligent TPMS), which not only measures tyre inflation pressure, but also identifies road conditions and tyre motion across the road surface.

Yokohama said that combined with “sideslip (stability control systems) prevention systems being installed on more and more vehicles, Intelligent TPMS can detect vehicle sideslips 0.2 seconds faster than existing systems – a difference of 11 meters of travel at a running speed of 100 kilometers per hour.”

Sideslip prevention systems control engine power and braking at each wheel as soon as a control computer detects a sideslip, helping maintain vehicle stability, the tyremaker said.

“Traditionally, various sensors installed on the vehicle’s body send information to the control computer,” the company said. “But Yokohama found that this involves a time lag between the actual slipping of a tyre and when the sensor detects it. Yokohama then developed its Intelligent Tire Pressure Monitoring System (Intelligent TPMS), making it possible to detect sideslips quicker with sensors installed directly in the tyre wheels.”

Yokohama said the key technology in the Intelligent TPMS is an acceleration sensor module, called a “G” sensor. “These are positioned inside the tyres, where the operating environment is more severe than in the body, and, despite their light weight (about 0.3 grams), are able to withstand vehicle speeds of up to 300 kilometers per hour and acceleration of 1,000 Gs,” Yokohama said.

Yokohama released its HiTES in Japan in 2003, a tyre air pressure monitoring system for trucks and buses. In 2004, it launched Air Watch for passenger cars.