Automobile wheel clearance estimation using magnetism

With development and miniaturization of magnetic sensors for several years, it is now possible to imagine new applications using magnetic measures for monitoring and diagnostics. In this article this new way of research and development is presented with a concrete example concerning monitoring of wheels in an automobile. Our approach consists in using the low magnetic field created by the metallic elements of the wheel in order to localize them with low-cost high-sensitivity miniature magnetic sensors. The measures are made via a sensor network set up on a vehicle around the wheel. Then we use a physical model of the wheel in order to interpret the signals we get from the sensors. This method shows the interest of the magnetic measurement for monitoring in automobile. In this paper we present the magnetic signal created by a wheel, the mechanical model of the wheel and we present how we use them for an application: the real-time estimation of the distance between wheels and chassis (wheel clearance). (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.