US 12,454,154 B2
Magnetic drive-over system providing tire tread thickness/depth measurement
Michael Stangler, Raleigh, NC (US); Shady Tarek El Bassiouny, New Cairo (EG); Steven Noyce, Mebane, NC (US); Aaron Daniel Franklin, Cary, NC (US); David Alan Koester, Burlington, NC (US); and Stephen W. Brooks, Raleigh, NC (US)
Assigned to Bridgestone Americas, Inc., Nashville, TN (US)
Appl. No. 17/911,480
Filed by BRIDGESTONE AMERICAS, INC., Nashville, TN (US)
PCT Filed Feb. 22, 2021, PCT No. PCT/US2021/018977
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 14, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/168393, PCT Pub. Date Aug. 26, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/979,837, filed on Feb. 21, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0106441 A1, Apr. 6, 2023
Int. Cl. B60C 11/24 (2006.01); G01B 7/26 (2006.01); G01M 17/02 (2006.01)
CPC B60C 11/246 (2013.01) [G01B 7/26 (2013.01); G01M 17/02 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for measuring a tread of a tire, the system comprising:
a nonmagnetic layer providing a drive-over surface adapted to receive the tire thereon including the tread to be measured;
a frame having a magnet and a magnetic sensor coupled thereto, the magnet being separate from the magnetic sensor, and a pitch between the magnet and the magnetic sensor within the frame being configurable to adjust measurement granularity; and
a housing including a cavity therein, the frame with the magnet and the magnetic sensor being mounted in the cavity, and the nonmagnetic layer being provided on the housing and on the frame.