Flexible Wheel Speed Sensor for Accurate Monitoring and Easy Maintenance
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Summary
Problems
Existing speed sensor designs for vehicle wheels face challenges in maintaining accuracy and ease of servicing, as integrated sensors within capped bearing assemblies require full wheel assembly disassembly for maintenance, while external designs compromise sealing effectiveness or precision due to increased distance between the sensor and tone ring.
Innovation solutions
A wheel assembly with a capped bearing design featuring a magnetic encoder and external sensor that deflects to maintain continuous contact with the cap, eliminating gaps and allowing for high-precision sensors without compromising sealing, enabling easy removal and repair without disassembling the wheel assembly.
TRIZ Analysis
Specific contradictions:
General conflict description:
Principle concept:
If the sensor is integrated within the capped wheel bearing assembly, then the bearing, tone ring and sensor are protected from the environment, but servicing the sensor requires disassembly of the entire wheel assembly
Why choose this principle:
The sensor assembly is segmented into separate components: the capped wheel bearing assembly containing the tone ring, and the external sensor assembly. This allows the sensor to be serviced independently without disassembling the bearing assembly, resolving the contradiction between environmental protection and ease of repair.
Principle concept:
If the sensor is integrated within the capped wheel bearing assembly, then the bearing, tone ring and sensor are protected from the environment, but servicing the sensor requires disassembly of the entire wheel assembly
Why choose this principle:
The sensor is extracted from the capped bearing assembly and positioned externally. The sensor reads the tone ring through the cap without being enclosed within it, allowing the cap to maintain its sealing function while the sensor remains accessible for easy servicing.
Application Domain
Data Source
AI summary:
A wheel assembly with a capped bearing design featuring a magnetic encoder and external sensor that deflects to maintain continuous contact with the cap, eliminating gaps and allowing for high-precision sensors without compromising sealing, enabling easy removal and repair without disassembling the wheel assembly.
Abstract
A wheel assembly for a non-driven wheel includes a rotating wheel hub with a shaft portion supporting a bearing inner race. A magnetic encoder is mounted for rotation with the shaft portion. A non-rotating component radially surrounds the shaft portion and has a bearing outer race. A cap is secured to the non-rotating component and covers the outer and inner races, the shaft portion and the magnetic encoder inboard of the races to seal an inboard side of the outer and inner races. A sensor is mounted to a non-rotating vehicle steering member externally to, not covered by, and not extending through the cap. The sensor is configured to deflect to be biased into continuous contact with an outer surface of the cap to read the magnetic encoder through the cap without extending through the cap.