Vehicle wheel positioning innovation on a machine for measuring the contact parameters between a tyre and the road

Abstract

This article deals with the development and proposal to increase the application of equipment for measuring the adhesion force between the road and the road vehicle. The device enabling the adhesion force measurement of a rotating vehicle wheel is called a dynamic adhesor. The actual position of the vehicle wheel relative to the road-simulating cylinder is, in the present embodiment of the dynamic adhesor, by means of a bolted clamping joint and stops. This embodiment has limiting applications. the test must be aborted, if the position of the vehicle wheel relative to the rotating cylinder changes. Therefore, the adhesor has been upgraded. The upgrade consists of adding a hydraulic control to allow repositioning of the vehicle wheel online without interrupting the experiment, from a workstation outside the rotating parts area. Input load values were determined from the adherent desired operating parameters and from the load simulation in the MSC Adams software. Hydraulic cylinders were designed in accordance with the results of the maximum operating loads and installation space. The current construction was adapted and supplemented with new parts for the use of these hydraulic cylinders. The article only deals with the area of new key elements. The equipment’s use has been expanded by improving the dynamic adhesor, for example, with the possibility of simulating the vehicle wheel’s driving behaviour when the vehicle is propped up, and in this way, the equipment can also be used for any required research in regard to noise emitted from the tyre’s road contact. As a result of innovation, the use of the unique tyre-testing equipment has been expanded, increasing the safety and environmental friendliness of road vehicles.