US12570110USUSPTO Grant XML

Tire health monitoring systems and methods thereto

The disclosed technology includes a system comprising a tire-mounted inertial measurement unit (IMU). The IMU can be configured to measure linear acceleration data and angular velocity data associated with a tire, and the system can be configured to determine various indicators of tire health based on the linear acceleration data and angular velocity data. The system can be configured to determine a distance between the IMU and an outer rolling surface of the tire. The system can be configured to monitor changes in this distance over time, which can be indicative of tread wear over time. Accordingly, the system can be configured to monitor change in the tread depth over time such that the system is configured to monitor tread depth of the tire.

Patent

Brief

Patent brief

Problem

How can battery fires and thermal runaway in EV packs be prevented?

Novelty

The IMU can be configured to measure linear acceleration data and angular velocity data associated with a tire, and the...

Uses

Battery packs, Vehicle safety, Pack telemetry

Assignee

American Tire Distributors, Inc.

Published

Mar 10, 2026

Inventors

Jeffrey D. Carpenter, Mark E. Duttweiler, W. Daniel Hillis, James Wallace Sarrett, Bruce J. Walker, David C. Douglas

Domain

Mobility / storage

Plain-English summary

Problem

How can battery fires and thermal runaway in EV packs be prevented?

Solution

The disclosed technology includes a system comprising a tire-mounted inertial measurement unit (IMU).

Key novelty

The IMU can be configured to measure linear acceleration data and angular velocity data associated with a tire, and the system can be configured to determine various indicators of tire health based on the linear acceleration data and angular velocity data.

Applications

Battery packsVehicle safetyPack telemetry

Relevant search intents

monitoring

Claims preview

1 . A tire monitoring system comprising: a tire sensor mounted within a tire; a computing device in communication with the tire sensor, the computing device being configured to: receive kinematic sensor data from the tire sensor, the kinematic sensor data being indicative of motion of the tire; determine a contact patch angle based at least in part on the kinematic sensor data, the contact patch angle being an angle that represents a contact patch associated with the tire, wherein the contact patch angle comprises a difference between a contact patch exit angle and a contact patch entry angle, wherein determining the contact patch entry angle comprises determining an entry angle associated with the kinematic sensor data passing a first kinematic data threshold, and wherein determining the contact patch exit angle comprises determining an exit angle associated with the kinematic sensor data passing a second kinematic data threshold; determine a contact patch size based at least in part on the contact patch angle; determine a rotation rate of the tire, wherein the rotation rate is based at least in part on dividing a peak angular velocity by a mean angular velocity to calculate a peak tire rotation rate ratio; determine an estimated tread depth of the tire based at least in part on the contact patch size and the rotation rate; and responsive to determining that the estimated tread depth of the tire is below a tread depth threshold, output instructions to a user device associated with the tire monitoring system, the instructions instructing the user device to provide an indication for one or more suggested actions. 2 . The tire monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the tire sensor is attached to an inner liner of the tire. 3 . The tire monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the tire sensor is attached to a wheel hub associated with the tire.

Linked approaches

Battery monitoring systems

Sensors and control systems that detect and mitigate thermal events early.

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