US 12,296,867 B2
Automated on-wheel thermography for safety and prevention
Andrew Griffis, Tucson, AZ (US); Michael Snyder, Tucson, AZ (US); Nicholas Griffis, Tucson, AZ (US); and Jacob Dorer, Tucson, AZ (US)
Assigned to Delta Thermal, Inc., Tucson, AZ (US)
Filed by Delta Thermal, Inc., Tucson, AZ (US)
Filed on Oct. 11, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/913,956.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/589,596, filed on Oct. 11, 2023.
Prior Publication US 2025/0121862 A1, Apr. 17, 2025
Int. Cl. B61K 9/06 (2006.01); G01M 13/045 (2019.01)
CPC B61K 9/06 (2013.01) [G01M 13/045 (2013.01)] 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A self-powered system (100) configured to measure properties of one or more bearings (102) of one or more wheels, the system (100) comprising:
a. one or more sensor devices, each sensor device (104) disposed on a wheel (103) of the one or more wheels, each sensor device (104) comprising:
i. one or more thermal sensors (134), configured to continuously measure a temperature of the one or more bearings (102) and generate a continuous temperature data stream; and
ii. a magnetic power unit (600) operatively coupled to the one or more thermal sensors (134), configured to convert a rotation of the wheel (103) into energy and power the sensor device (104) with the energy without a battery; and
b. a computing device (105) communicatively coupled to the one or more sensor devices, comprising a processor (108) configured to execute computer-readable instructions and a memory component (109) comprising computer-readable instructions for:
i. accepting, for each sensor device (104) of the one or more sensor devices, the continuous temperature data stream from the one or more thermal sensors (134);
ii. generating a temperature map of the one or more bearings (102) based on the one or more continuous temperature data streams;
iii. measuring a heat value of one or more regions of the temperature map against a heat threshold; and
iv. identifying, if the heat value of a region of the one or more regions exceeds the heat threshold, a hot spot indicative of one or more anomalies of the one or more bearings (102).