JP7309577B2 - Tire management system and tire management method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a tire management system and a tire management method.

Tires mounted on vehicles are subject to wear and damage due to operation of the vehicle, etc., and maintenance by tire replacement or tire rotation is required depending on the state of wear of the tires. Further, in recent years, a system for estimating the amount of wear by measuring the condition of a tire using a sensor provided on the tire has been studied.

Patent Document 1 discloses a monitoring system for monitoring tire tread wear. This monitoring system utilizes RFID (Radio Frequency Identifier) tags embedded in the tire tread at groove depths indicative of tire wear and monitors signals from the RFID tags. A monitoring system monitors tread wear by the presence or absence of a signal from the RFID tag.

JP 2016-060488 A

In the monitoring system described in Patent Document 1, although the identification information of each tire can be read by the RFID tag, for example, a method of associating and managing each tire with information related to the sensor provided on the tire is being studied. It wasn't. Further, the inventors of the present invention thought that the mounting position of the tire on the vehicle, which affects the progress of wear, should also be taken into consideration in the management of tire information.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and its object is to provide a tire management system and a tire management method capable of associating individual tires with data acquired for each tire. to do.

One aspect of the invention is a tire management system. A tire management system includes a tire information acquisition unit that acquires identification information of a tire mounted on a vehicle, a sensor information acquisition unit that acquires identification information of a sensor provided on the tire, and the tire information acquisition unit. a management unit that associates and stores the identification information of the tire obtained by the identification information of the tire and the identification information of the sensor obtained by the sensor information obtaining unit.

Another aspect of the invention is a tire management method. A tire management method includes a tire information acquisition step of acquiring identification information of a tire mounted on a vehicle, a sensor information acquisition step of acquiring identification information of a sensor provided on the tire, and the tire information acquisition step. a management step of correlating and storing the identification information of the tire obtained by the step of obtaining the sensor information and the identification information of the sensor obtained in the step of obtaining the sensor information.

According to the present invention, it is possible to associate individual tires with data acquired for each tire.

1 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a tire management system according to an embodiment; FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining an example of information acquisition from each tire; 7 is a flow chart showing a procedure of identification information storage processing; 4 is a chart showing an example of history information stored by a management unit; FIG. 11 is a chart showing another example of history information stored by the management unit; FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining a case where reproduction processing information is added to a tire;

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described below based on preferred embodiments with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. FIG. The same or equivalent constituent elements and members shown in each drawing are denoted by the same reference numerals, and duplication of description will be omitted as appropriate. In addition, the dimensions of the members in each drawing are appropriately enlarged or reduced for easy understanding. Also, in each drawing, some of the members that are not important for explaining the embodiments are omitted.

(embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a tire management system 100 according to an embodiment. The tire management system 100 includes an identification information reader 20, a sensor measurement device 30, a control device 40, a server device 70, and the like. The identification information reading device 20, the sensor measurement device 30 and the control device 40 are mounted on the vehicle. The tire management system 100 acquires identification information for each of the identification information holding unit 11 and the sensor 12 provided in the tire 10, and manages the identification information of the tire 10 and the identification information of the sensor 12 in association with each other.

The tire management system 100 has a management unit 43 in the control device 40 provided in the vehicle in order to manage information about the tires 10 in one vehicle, and associates the identification information of the tire 10 with the identification information of the sensor 12. attached and managed. The management unit 43 stores and manages the history when, for example, the sensor 12 attached to the tire 10 is replaced. Further, the management unit 43 manages the mounting position of the tire 10 in association with the identification information of the tire 10, and can grasp the history of the mounting position when the mounting position is rotated within one vehicle. can.

Furthermore, the tire management system 100 can upload information about the tire 10 from the control device 40 to the server device 70 via the communication network 90 and manage the information about the tire 10 by the management section 71 of the server device 70 . The server device 70 acquires the vehicle identification information of each vehicle, the identification information of the tire 10, the identification information of the sensor 12, and the mounting position of the tire 10 from a plurality of vehicles, and accumulates the use history of the tire 10. FIG. The server device 70 can grasp the history of the tire 10 even when the tire 10 is changed from one vehicle to another vehicle, for example.

Each part of the tire management system 100 will be described. The tire 10 includes a tire body that is mainly made of a rubber material and a wheel on which the tire body is mounted. An identification information holding portion 11 and a sensor 12 are arranged on the tire 10 . Since there are cases where the tire body is separated from the wheel and replaced between the wheels, and there are cases where the tire is damaged and replaced with a new tire, the identification information holding unit 11 and the sensor 12 are used for wear estimation and the like. Although it is preferable that it is attached to the tire body, it may be replaced together with the tire body. For example, if the tire body has the identification information storage unit 11 and the wheel has the sensor 12, the correspondence relationship between the identification information storage unit 11 and the sensor 12 changes when only the tire is replaced. It is necessary for the unit 43 to manage the correspondence.

The identification information holding unit 11 is, for example, an RFID tag, and can give identification information to each tire 10 by being provided in each tire 10 . The RFID tag sends identification information to the identification information reader 20 . In addition, the identification information holding unit 11 is of a type in which identification information readable by the identification information reading device 20, such as numbers or alphabetic characters stamped on the tire 10, or barcodes, is held in the tire 10. good too.

The sensors 12 are a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, an acceleration sensor, a strain sensor, etc., which are provided on the tire 10 . The sensor 12 is attached to the tire 10 for estimating the amount of wear of the tire 10 , for example, and has a function of transmitting identification information and measurement data of each sensor to the sensor measuring device 30 .

The identification information reading device 20 reads identification information attached to each tire 10 from the identification information holding unit 11 provided for each tire 10 . FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining an example of information acquisition from each tire 10. As shown in FIG. The identification information reading device 20 has detectors 20a to 20d for each mounting position of the tire 10 on the vehicle, and by reading the identification information for each detector, obtains the identification information of the tire 10 and the mounting position of the tire 10. do.

For example, the detector 20a is positioned on the left side of the front wheel, and the detector 20b is positioned on the right side of the front wheel, corresponding to the mounting position of the tire 10 . For example, when the identification information holding unit 11 is an RFID tag, the detector 20a is an antenna that transmits and receives radio waves to and from the RFID tag. The identification information reader 20 outputs the read identification information of each tire 10 and the mounting position of each tire 10 to the control device 40 .

The sensor measurement device 30 receives measurement data of physical quantities such as tire pressure, tire temperature, acceleration, and strain measured by the sensors 12 disposed on each tire 10, accumulates a certain amount of data, and outputs the measurement data to an external device. Send to Further, the sensor measurement device 30 receives identification information attached to each sensor 12 .

As shown in FIG. 2, the sensor measuring device 30 has receiving antennas 30a to 30d for each mounting position of the tire 10 on the vehicle, and receives identification information and measurement data of the sensor 12 for each receiving antenna. Further, the sensor measurement device 30 can grasp where each sensor 12 is located among the mounting positions of the tire 10 in the vehicle by the reception by the receiving antennas 30a to 30d. The sensor measurement device 30 outputs the identification information of each sensor 12 and the mounting position of the tire 10 on the vehicle where each sensor 12 is located to the control device 40 .

The sensor measuring device 30 outputs data to the external device, such as a tire wear estimating device, when the vehicle is equipped with an external device that uses physical quantity data such as tire pressure measured by the tire 10 . Further, the sensor measurement device 30 may transmit identification information of each sensor 12 and physical quantity data such as tire pressure to the server device 70, and the server device 70 may accumulate data for tire wear estimation and the like. good.

The control device 40 includes a tire information acquisition section 41, a sensor information acquisition section 42, a management section 43, and the like. The control device 40 is, for example, an information processing device such as a PC (personal computer). Each part in the control device 40 can be realized by electronic elements such as a CPU of a computer, mechanical parts, etc. in terms of hardware, and by computer programs etc. in terms of software. It depicts the functional blocks to be implemented. Therefore, those skilled in the art will understand that these functional blocks can be realized in various forms by combining hardware and software.

The tire information acquisition unit 41 acquires the identification information of the tire 10 and the mounting position of the tire 10 from the identification information reader 20 . The tire information acquisition unit 41 acquires the identification information of the new tire 10 from the identification information reader 20 when the tire 10 is replaced. Further, the tire information acquisition unit 41 acquires information on a new mounting position of each tire 10 from the identification information reader 20 when the tire 10 is rotated in the vehicle.

The sensor information acquisition unit 42 acquires the identification information of each sensor 12 and the mounting position of the tire 10 on the vehicle where each sensor 12 is located from the sensor measuring device 30 . The sensor information acquisition unit 42 acquires identification information of a new sensor 12 when the sensor 12 is replaced. Further, the sensor information acquisition unit 42 acquires the new location of each sensor 12 from the sensor measuring device 30 when the tires 10 are rotated within the vehicle.

Management unit 43, based on the identification information of the tire 10 and the mounting position in the vehicle acquired by the tire information acquisition unit 41, and the identification information and the mounting position of the sensor 12 acquired by the sensor information acquisition unit 42, each identification information correspond. The management unit 43 associates the identification information of the tire 10 with the identification information of the sensor 12 for each mounting position of the tire 10 in the vehicle, and stores and manages them in the storage unit 44 together with date and time information.

When the tire 10 is replaced or rotated, the management unit 43 associates the identification information of the tire 10 with the identification information of the sensor 12 for each mounting position of the tire 10, together with information such as the date and time of the change. It is stored in the storage unit 44 and a change history is left.

The management unit 43 transmits the identification information of the tire 10 , the identification information of the sensor 12 , the mounting position of the tire 10 and the date and time information stored in the storage unit 44 from the communication unit 45 to the server device 70 via the communication network 90 . The management unit 71 in the server device 70 stores and manages the uploaded identification information of the tire 10 , the identification information of the sensor 12 , the mounting position of the tire 10 and the date and time information in the storage unit 72 .

Next, operation of the tire management system 100 will be described based on identification information storage processing. FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the procedure of identification information storage processing. The tire information acquisition unit 41 of the control device 40 acquires the identification information of each tire 10 and the mounting position in the vehicle from the identification information reader 20 (S1). As described above, the identification information of the tire 10 is the identification information held in the identification information holding portion 11 arranged in the tire 10, and is unique to each tire 10. FIG.

The sensor information acquisition unit 42 acquires the identification information of each sensor 12 and the mounting position of the tire 10 on the vehicle where each sensor 12 is located from the sensor measuring device 30 (S2). The management unit 43 causes the storage unit 44 to store the identification information of the tire, the identification information of the sensor, and the mounting position of the tire 10 in association with each other (S3), and terminates the process. Incidentally, in the processing of step S3, the management unit 43 adds date and time information and the like and causes the storage unit 44 to store the information. The control device 40 executes the processing from step S1 to step S3 periodically, or when a predetermined operation such as engine start-up, tire change or rotation occurs, and leaves a history. For example, when rotation of the tires 10 occurs, it is preferable to execute the identification information storage process in correspondence with necessary work such as starting the engine after the rotation work. Since the rotation of the tire 10 is normally performed with the engine turned off, by executing the processing of steps S1 to S3 in accordance with the engine start-up, it is possible to reliably grasp and manage the replacement timing. On the other hand, if the processing of steps S1 to S3 is executed periodically or by a detector provided at a gate or a detector carried by a person, a discrepancy between the timing at which the tire 10 is rotated, the identification information, and the sensor mounting position will be detected. may deviate from the timing at which is determined. In this case, it is possible to analyze the data acquired later, identify a change such as a change in the output waveform of an acceleration sensor or the like before and after the rotation of the tire 10, and replace the data later.

FIG. 4 is a table showing an example of history information stored by the management unit 43. As shown in FIG. FIG. 4 shows the history of the left front wheel and the right front wheel, but the history of the left rear wheel and the right rear wheel can also be stored in the same manner. In the example shown in FIG. 4, on January 1, 2019, a tire with tire identification information T1 and sensor identification information S1 is mounted on the left front wheel, and a tire with tire identification information T2 and sensor identification information is mounted on the right front wheel. A tire with information S2 is mounted, and is stored in the storage unit 44 as history information.

On February 1, 2019, the left and right tires were changed, and the sensor was also moved at the same time. The history information is stored in which a tire whose identification information is T1 and whose sensor identification information is S1 is mounted.

Next, on March 1, 2019, the tire with identification information T2 on the left front wheel was replaced with a new tire, and the tire with identification information T3 and sensor identification information S2 was mounted on the left front wheel. Information is stored. The sensor is the same before and after the replacement, and has been replaced with a new tire. Furthermore, on April 1, 2019, the sensor on the right front tire was replaced with a new sensor, and the history information that the tire with the tire identification information T1 and the sensor identification information S3 was installed on the right front wheel is stored. be done.

The tire management system 100 associates and stores the acquired identification information of the tire 10 and the identification information of the sensor 12 and manages the history, so that the measurement data acquired by the sensor 12 for each tire 10 for each tire. can be associated with

The tire management system 100 can also manage the history of the correspondence between the identification information of the tire 10 and the mounting position in the vehicle. For example, when the mounting position of the tire 10 is required as a parameter in the process of estimating the amount of tire wear, the tire management system 100 can provide the identification information of the tire 10 and the mounting position of the tire 10 .

FIG. 5 is a table showing another example of history information stored by the management unit 43. As shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 5, corresponding to the identification information of the tire 10, the mounting position in the vehicle and the identification information of the sensor are stored. On January 1, 2019, a tire with identification information T1 is mounted on the left front wheel, a sensor with identification information S1 is provided on the tire, and a tire with identification information T2 is mounted on the right front wheel, A history is stored in which a sensor having identification information S2 is provided in the same tire.

Since left and right tires were changed on February 1, 2019, history information is stored in which a tire with identification information T1 was mounted on the right front wheel and a tire with identification information T2 was mounted on the left front wheel. For each tire, the sensor identification remains the same.

Next, on March 1, 2019, the tire with identification information T2 on the left side of the front wheel was replaced with a new tire, the tire with identification information T3 was mounted on the left side of the front wheel, and a sensor with identification information S2 was installed on the same tire. Provided history information is stored. The sensor is the same before and after the replacement, and has been replaced with a new tire. Furthermore, on April 1, 2019, the sensor for the tire with identification information T1 was replaced with a new sensor, and there is history information that the tire with identification information T1 and the sensor with identification information S3 are provided. remembered.

The tire management system 100 stores the mounting position in the vehicle and the history information of the identification information of the sensor 12 for each tire 10, so that the measurement data obtained by the sensor 12 for each tire 10 and the vehicle It is possible to associate with the mounting position in .

The management unit 71 of the server device 70 can acquire the identification information of the tire 10 , the identification information of the sensor 12 , and the mounting position in the vehicle from a plurality of vehicles, and manage the usage history of the tire 10 .

For example, there are cases where a transportation company owns a plurality of vehicles, and the tires 10 are exchanged between different vehicles. In this case, by uploading and storing the identification information of the tire 10, the identification information of the sensor 12, and the information of the mounting position in the vehicle from each vehicle to the server device 70, the usage history of each tire 10 can be continuously obtained. can be managed.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining a case where reproduction processing information is added to the tire 10. As shown in FIG. For example, in the case of a large tire used in a transportation vehicle, even if the wear life of the tread has expired, the durability of the base portion and the like remains, and the tread and the like are sometimes recycled and reused. The regeneration processing management device 50 records and manages regeneration processing information relating to the regeneration processing performed on the tire 10 for each tire. The identification information of the tire 10 and the reproduction processing information managed by the reproduction processing management device 50 are added to the identification information holding unit 11 of the tire 10 subjected to the reproduction processing.

For example, when the identification information holding unit 11 is an RFID tag, reproduction processing information is added to the identification information held in the RFID tag. The tire management system 100 uses the identification information reader 20 to read the identification information of the tire 10 as well as the regeneration processing information, and stores the identification information of the tire 10 in association with the regeneration processing information.

The tire management system 100 can provide the reproduction processing information associated with the identification information of the tire 10 to an external device that estimates the amount of wear, for example. Also, by tracking the usage history of the reclaimed tire 10 by the tire management system 100, it is possible to grasp the useful life such as the period of use.

There are two methods for retreading tires: when the treads in the tires become shallow, they are regrouped by digging the treads again to maintain the drainage and gripping power of a new tire, and the precure method and remolding are used to retread used tires. Two types of rehabilitation methods are used. In the pre-cure method, tread rubber that has been vulcanized in advance and has a pattern carved into it is attached and vulcanized at a low temperature in a vulcanizing can. The pre-curing method is suitable when there are many types of tires to be supplied and the amount of retreading for each type of tire is small.

In the remolding method, unvulcanized tread rubber is attached, placed in a patterned mold, and vulcanized at a high temperature. The remolding method is suitable for retreading a large amount of used tires. The retreading process means the process of retreading tires by two types of retreading methods: a regrouping method, a precure method, and a remolding method. The regeneration processing information is made up of codes indicating the various types of processing described above, and it is assumed that from the regeneration processing information, the processing details for regeneration performed on the tire can be grasped.

In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the identification information reader 20 has a plurality of detectors 20a to 20d for each mounting position of the tire 10 has been described. The number of detectors may be reduced accordingly if reading is possible. Similarly, although the sensor measurement device 30 has the receiving antennas 30a to 30d for each mounting position of the tire 10 on the vehicle, the identification information and measurement from the sensor 12 corresponding to a plurality of mounting positions with one receiving antenna have been described. If data can be received, the number of receiving antennas may be reduced as appropriate. Further, the identification information reading device 20 has been described as having the detectors 20a to 20d for each mounting position of the tire 10, but it may be attached to the gate of the passage through which the vehicle passes, for example.

Further, when the vehicle is a general passenger car, the tires 10 are generally mounted on the left and right of the front wheels and on the left and right of the rear wheels. , the number of mounting positions may be more than four. Furthermore, in one row of the front wheels and the rear wheels, there are cases where two or more tires are used on each of the left and right sides. Even when the number of mounting positions of the tires 10 is more than four, and even when the number of the tires 10 to be mounted is four or more, the tire management system 100 can adjust each tire according to the mounting position and the number of the tires 10. 10, and the identification and measurement data of each sensor 12 may be configured to acquire and store.

Further, the identification information holding unit 11 is, for example, an RFID tag as described above, and stores the production serial number, production date, production line, main specification information, etc. corresponding to the identification information of the tire 10 in the RFID tag, These pieces of information may be read by the identification information reader 20 .

Next, features of the tire management system 100 and the tire management method according to the embodiment will be described.
The tire management system 100 includes a tire information acquisition section 41 , a sensor information acquisition section 42 and a management section 43 . The tire information acquisition unit 41 acquires identification information of the tire 10 mounted on the vehicle. The sensor information acquisition unit 42 acquires identification information of the sensor 12 arranged on the tire 10 . The management unit 43 associates and stores the identification information of the tire 10 acquired by the tire information acquisition unit 41 and the identification information of the sensor 12 acquired by the sensor information acquisition unit 42 . Thereby, the tire management system 100 can associate each tire with the data acquired for each tire.

The management unit 43 also stores the identification information of the tire 10 and the mounting position of the tire 10 in association with each other. As a result, the tire management system 100 provides the identification information of the tire 10 and the mounting position of the tire 10 in association with each other when the mounting position of the tire 10 is required as a parameter, for example, in a process of estimating the amount of tire wear. be able to.

The tire 10 also has an RFID tag that holds identification information, and is provided with an identification information reader 20 that reads identification information from the RFID tag corresponding to each mounting position of the tire 10 on the vehicle. The management unit 43 acquires and stores the mounting position corresponding to the identification information of the tire 10 by the identification information reading device 20 . Accordingly, the tire management system 100 can acquire the mounting position corresponding to the identification information of the tire 10 by reading the identification information from the RFID tag at each mounting position of the tire 10 .

Further, the management unit 43 stores the identification information of the tire 10 and the reproduction processing information of the tire 10 in association with each other. Thereby, the tire management system 100 can provide the regeneration processing information associated with the identification information of the tire 10 .

A tire management method includes a tire information acquisition step, a sensor information acquisition step, and a management step. The tire information acquisition step acquires identification information of the tire 10 mounted on the vehicle. The sensor information acquisition step acquires identification information of the sensor 12 arranged on the tire 10 . The management step associates and stores the identification information of the tire 10 acquired in the tire information acquisition step and the identification information of the sensor 12 acquired in the sensor information acquisition step. According to this tire management method, each tire can be associated with data acquired for each tire.

The above has been described based on the embodiments of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that these embodiments are illustrative and that various variations and modifications are possible within the scope of the claims of the present invention, and that such variations and modifications also fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention. It is about to be done. Accordingly, the description and drawings herein are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

10 tire, 11 identification information holding unit (RFID tag), 12 sensor,
20 identification information reader (reader), 41 tire information acquisition unit,
42 sensor information acquisition unit, 43 management unit, 100 tire management system.

Claims (6)

a tire information acquisition unit that acquires identification information of tires mounted on a vehicle;
a sensor information acquisition unit that acquires identification information of a sensor disposed on the tire;
a management unit that associates and stores identification information of the tire acquired by the tire information acquisition unit and identification information of the sensor acquired by the sensor information acquisition unit ;
The tire management system , wherein the management unit associates and stores the identification information of the tire and the mounting position of the tire . The tire has an RFID tag holding identification information,
A reading device for reading identification information from the RFID tag corresponding to each mounting position of the tire in the vehicle,
2. The tire management system according to claim 1 , wherein the management unit acquires and stores the mounting position corresponding to the identification information of the tire by the reading device. a tire information acquisition unit that acquires identification information of tires mounted on a vehicle;
a sensor information acquisition unit that acquires identification information of a sensor disposed on the tire;
a management unit that associates and stores identification information of the tire acquired by the tire information acquisition unit and identification information of the sensor acquired by the sensor information acquisition unit;
The tire management system, wherein the management unit associates and stores the identification information of the tire and the regeneration processing information of the tire. 4. Any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the management unit stores the identification information of the tire and the identification information of the sensor together with date and time information associated with each mounting position of the tire in the vehicle. A tire management system as described in paragraph 1. a tire information acquisition step of acquiring identification information of tires mounted on the vehicle;
a sensor information acquisition step of acquiring identification information of the sensor provided on the tire;
a management step of correlating and storing the identification information of the tire acquired by the step of acquiring tire information and the identification information of the sensor acquired by the step of acquiring sensor information ;
The tire management method , wherein the management step associates and stores the identification information of the tire and the mounting position of the tire . a tire information acquisition step of acquiring identification information of tires mounted on the vehicle;
a sensor information acquisition step of acquiring identification information of the sensor provided on the tire;
a management step of correlating and storing the identification information of the tire acquired by the step of acquiring tire information and the identification information of the sensor acquired by the step of acquiring sensor information;
The tire management method, wherein the management step associates and stores the identification information of the tire and the regeneration processing information of the tire.

Images