ABSTRACT:

Proper tire inflation pressure improves fuel economy, reduces braking distance,
improves handling, and increases tire life, while under inflation creates overheating and
can lead to accidents. Approximately 3/4 of all automobiles operate with at least one
underinflated tire. The main causes of under inflation are natural leakage, temperature
changes, and road hazards. Drivers typically do not check tire pressure unless they
notice unusual vehicle performance. Visual checks are often insufficient to determine
under inflation.

In 2000, the U.S. Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and

Documentation Act (TREAD) requested that the National Highway Transport Safety
Authority (NHTSA) investigate the implementation of a pressure drop warning system
on vehicles. Beginning with 2006 models, all passenger cars and trucks in the United
States are required to have tire-pressure monitoring systems (TPMSs). A TPMS is a
driver-assist system that warns the driver when the tire pressure is below or above the
Prescribed limits.

INTRODUCTION:

Tires are designed and built with great care to provide thousands of miles
of excellent service. But for maximum benefit they must be maintained properly.

The most important factors in tyre care are:

Proper Inflation Pressure

Proper Vehicle Loading
Proper tyre Wear
Regular Inspection
Good Driving Habits
Vehicle Condition

1
The Benefits of Proper Inflation

With the right amount of air pressure, you will achieve optimum tyre
performance. This means your tires wear longer, save fuel and help prevent accidents.
The "right amount" of air is the pressure specified by the vehicle manufacturer, which
may be different on the front than the rear tires on your particular model car or light
truck. The correct air pressure is shown on the tyre placard (or sticker) attached to
the vehicle door edge, door post, glove box door or fuel door. If your vehicle doesn't
have a placard, check the owner's manual or consult with the vehicle manufacturer, tyre
manufacturer or your local tyre dealer for the proper inflation. The tyre placard tells you
the maximum vehicle load, the cold tyre air pressures and the tyre size recommended
by the vehicle manufacturer. If you don't take proper care of your tires, the results can
be serious. Most tyre companies are either supplying a handbook or are molding a
safety warning right onto the tyre sidewall. A typical warning is shown on this page.

As you see, it points out that serious injury may result from tyre failure due
to under inflation or overloading. Motorists are strongly advised to follow the vehicle
owner's manual or the tyre placard in the vehicle for proper inflation and loading.
Only specially trained persons should mount or demount tires. An explosion of a tyre
and wheel assembly can result from improper or careless mounting procedures. Persons
who do mount tires must have the right equipment, the right training and the right
information before proceeding. Never exceed 40 psi to seat the beads. Always use a
restraining device when mounting a tyre on a rim, and be sure to stay back from the tyre
when inflating it. Remember, mounting and demounting tires and wheels should be left
to skilled professionals who are aware of the safety hazards involved and who have the
proper tools and equipment to do the job safely.

WORKING PRINCIPLE

Compressed air is given to the 2/2 solenoid valve inlet. The pressure
switch is used to sense the tyre pressure. The required tyre pressure is setted by

2
the pressure switch reading. This pressure switch is used to sense the current
pressure and this output signal is given to the solenoid valve.

Whenever the tyre pressure is below the setted valve the pressure switch
activate the solenoid valve. The compressed air is goes to the tyre with the help
of quick release coupling which is used to rotating the wheel freely. The required
pressure is filled then the pressure switch will be deactivated the solenoid valve
so that the tyre pressure will be maintained in constant level.

2. HOW TYRES WORK

If you're in the market for new tyres, all of the variables in

tyre specifications and the confusing jargon you might hear from tyre
salesmen or "experts" might make your purchase rather stressful. Or
maybe you just want to fully understand the tyres you already have, the
concepts at work, the significance of all of those sidewall markings.
What does all this stuff mean in regular terms?

In this article, we will explore how tyres are built and see
what's in a tyre. We'll find out what all the numbers and markings on
the sidewall of a tyre mean, and we'll decipher some of that tyre jargon.
By the end of this article, you'll understand how a tyre supports your
car, and you'll know why heat can build up in your tyres, especially if
the pressure is low. You'll also be able to adjust your tyre pressure
correctly and diagnose some common tyre problems!

How Tyres are Made

3
 As illustrated below, a tyre is made up of several different
components.
The Bead Bundle
The bead is a loop of high-strength steel cable coated with rubber. It
gives the tyre the strength it needs to stay seated on the wheel rim and
to handle the forces applied by tyre mounting machines when the tyres
are installed on rims.
The Body
The body is made up of several layers of different fabrics,
called plies. The most common ply fabric is polyester cord. The cords
in a radial tyre run perpendicular to the tread. Some older tyres used
diagonal bias tyres, tyres in which the fabric ran at an angle to the
tread. The plies are coated with rubber to help them bond with the other
components and to seal in the air. A tyre's strength is often described
by the number of plies it has. Most car tyres have two body plies. By
comparison, large commercial jetliners often have tyres with 30 or
more plies.
The Belts
In steel-belted radial tyres, belts made from steel are used to
reinforce the area under the tread. These belts provide puncture
resistance and help the tyre stay flat so that it makes the best contact
with the road.
Cap Plies
Some tyres have cap plies, an extra layer or two of polyester
fabric to help hold everything in place. These cap plies are not found on
all tyres; they are mostly used on tyres with higher speed ratings to help
all the components stay in place at high speeds.
The Sidewall
4
 The sidewall provides lateral stability for the tyre, protects the
body plies and helps keep the air from escaping. It may contain
additional components to help increase the lateral stability.
The Tread
The tread is made from a mixture of many different kinds of
natural and synthetic rubbers. The tread and the sidewalls are extruded
and cut to length. The tread is just smooth rubber at this point; it does
not have the tread patterns that give the tyre traction.
Assembly
All of these components are assembled in the tyre-building
machine. This machine ensures that all of the components are in the
correct location and then forms the tyre into a shape and size fairly close
to its finished dimensions.

5
 You can see that the under inflated/overloaded tyre is less
round than the properly inflated, properly loaded tyre. When the tyre is
spinning, the contact patch must move around the tyre to stay in contact
with the road. At the spot where the tyre meets the road, the rubber is
bent out. It takes force to bend that tyre, and the more it has to bend, the
more force it takes. The tyre is not perfectly elastic, so when it returns
to its original shape, it does not return all of the force that it took to
bend it. Some of that force is converted to heat in the tyre by the
friction and work of bending all of the rubber and steel in the tyre.
Since an under inflated or overloaded tyre needs to bend more, it takes
more force to push it down the road, so it generates more heat.

Tyre manufacturers sometimes publish a coefficient of rolling

friction (CRF) for their tyres. You can use this number to calculate how
much force it takes to push a tyre down the road. The CRF has nothing
to do with how much traction the tyre has; it is used to calculate the
amount of drag or rolling resistance caused by the tyres. The CRF is
just like any other coefficient of rolling friction: The force required to
overcome the friction is equal to the CRF multiplied by the weight on
the tyre. This table lists typical CRF for several different types of
wheels.

Coefficient of Rolling
Tyre Type
Friction
Low rolling
0.006 - 0.01
resistance car tyre

6
 Ordinary car tyre 0.015
Truck tyre 0.006 - 0.01
Train wheel 0.001

Let's figure out how much force a typical car might use to
push its tyres down the road. Let's say our car weighs 4,000 pounds
(1814.369 kg), and the tyres have a CRF of 0.015. The force is equal to
4,000 x 0.015, which equals 60 pounds (27.215 kg). Now let's figure
out how much power that is. We know that power is equal to force
times speed. So the amount of power used by the tyres depends on how
fast the car is going. At 75 mph (120.7 kph), the tyres are using 12hp,
and at 55 mph (88.513 kph) they use 8.8 horsepower. All of that power
is turning into heat. Most of it goes into the tyres, but some of it goes
into the road (the road actually bends a little when the car drives over
it).

From these calculations you can see that the three things that
affect how much force it takes to push the tyre down the road (and
therefore how much heat builds up in the tyres) are the weight on the
tyres, the speed you drive and the CRF (which increases if pressure is
decreased). If you drive on softer surfaces, such as sand, more of the
heat goes into the ground, and less goes into the tyres, but the CRF
goes way up.

COMPONENTS AND DESCRIPTION

COMPONENTS AND DESCRIPTION

7
The major components of this project are,
5/2 DC Valve
Flow Control Valve
Electronic timing control unit
5/2 SOLENOID VALVE

The directional valve is one of the important parts of a pneumatic

system. Commonly known as DCV, this valve is used to control the
direction of air flow in the pneumatic system. The directional valve does
this by changing the position of its internal movable parts.

This valve was selected for speedy operation and to reduce the
manual effort and also for the modification of the machine into automatic
machine by means of using a solenoid valve. A solenoid is an electrical
device that converts electrical energy into straight line motion and force.
These are also used to operate a mechanical operation which in turn
operates the valve mechanism.

Solenoids may be push type or pull type. The push type solenoid is
one in which the plunger is pushed when the solenoid is energized
electrically. The pull type solenoid is one is which the plunger is pulled
when the solenoid is energized.

The name of the parts of the solenoid should be learned so that they can be
recognized when called upon to make repairs, to do service work or to
install them.

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PARTS OF SOLENOID VALVE

1. COIL
The solenoid coil is made of copper wire. The layers of wire are
separated by insulating layer. The entire solenoid coil is covered with an
varnish that is not affected by solvents, moisture, cutting oil or often fluids.
Coils are rated in various voltages such as 115 volts AC, 230 volts AC, 460
volts AC, 575 Volts AC, 6 Volts DC, 12 Volts DC, 24 Volts DC, 115 Volts
DC & 230 Volts DC. They are designed for such frequencies as 50 Hz to
60 Hz.

2. FRAME
The solenoid frame serves several purposes. Since it is made of
laminated sheets, it is magnetized when the current passes through the coil.
The magnetized coil attract the metal plunger to move. The frame has
provisions for attaching the mounting. They are usually bolted or welded
to the frame. The frame has provisions for receivers, the plunger. The

9
wear strips are mounted to the solenoid frame, and are made of materials
such as metal or impregnated less fiber cloth.

3. SOLENOID PLUNGER
The Solenoid plunger is the mover mechanism of the solenoid. The
plunger is made of steel laminations which are riveted together under high
pressure, so that there will be no movement of the lamination with respect
to one another. At the top of the plunger a pin hole is placed for making a
connection to some device. The solenoid plunger is moved by a magnetic
force in one direction and is usually returned by spring action.

Solenoid operated valves are usually provided with cover over either
the solenoid or the entire valve. This protects the solenoid from dirt and
other foreign matter, and protects the actuator. In many applications it is
necessary to use explosion proof solenoids.

4.5.2. WORKING OF SOLENOID VALVE

The solenoid valve has 5 openings. This ensure easy exhausting of
5/2 valve. The spool of the 5/2 valve slide inside the main bore according
to spool position; the ports get connected and disconnected. The working
principle is as follows.

POSITION - I

When the spool is actuated towards outer direction port P gets

connected to B and S remains closed while A gets connected to R

POISITION - II

When the spool is pushed in the inner direction port P and A gets
connected to each other and B to S while port R remains closed.

FLOW CONTROL VALVE:

(a) TECHNICAL DATA
Size :
10
Pressure : 0 to 10 kg / cm2
Media : Air

(b) PURPOSE
This valve is used to speed up the piston movement and also it acts
as an one way restriction valve which means that the air can pass through
only one way and it cant return back.
By using this valve the time consumption is reduced because of the
faster movement of the piston.

HOUSE AND FITINGS:

It is provided for the passage of compressed air from the compressor

outlet to the operating valve.

Two separate pipes also connect the operating valve with the
working cylinder pressure drop through and air line depends on the flow
rate, pipe diameter, pipe length and pipe geometry. It can be determined
directly for straight pipes of any given length. A small chaining bore size
can have marked effect on pressure drop, where as even doubling the pipe
length, will only result in doubling the pressure drop.

Pressure drop through bends and fittings can only be determined by

empirical tests, since it is specific to the internal geometry involved. Rigid
pipes however are less manipulated through remain form of bends with
arrangements increase and variable air have to flow and the flow itself may
be of fluctuating or pulsating nature. In this case it is thus normally based
on practical recommendation.

SEALS:

Seal is an important component of a pneumatic system and is used to

prevent the air leakage through the joint.

11
 This project passes the static seal which are used to prevent the
leakage through the stationary surface.

Material of the seal is Teflon tape.

Teflon has the following properties

Withstand the system pressure and temperature

without any damage.
Resist the wear and abrasion.
Recover from deformation.
Resists the adverse effects such as deterioration and
shrinking caused by the system air.
Seals are devices for closing gaps to prevent leakage or make
pressure joints and also to prevent the entry of air and dirt from outside into
the system. The material of seal must be compatible with the fluid
medium. It is a circular ring made of synthetic rubber. It is used for
providing tight sealing between the piston and the cylinder wall. It
prevents air leakage from the top and bottom of the cylinder.

Seals for air cylinder and valves are not normally called upon to seal
pressure higher than about 2 bars. Since the fluid to be seated is a gas, (in
our case air) rubbing speeds tends to be high and the seal the seal may have
to be operated under dry conditions with minimal lubrication.

12
 Tyre inflation system

4. TYRE-INFLATION BASICS

13
About 80 percent of the cars on the road are driving with one or more
tyres underinflated. Tyres lose air through normal driving (especially
after hitting pot holes or curbs), permeation and seasonal changes in
temperature. They can lose one or two psi (pounds per square inch)
each month in the winter and even more in the summer. And, you can't
tell if they're properly inflated just by looking at them. You have to use
a tyre-pressure guage. Not only is underinflation bad for your tyres, but
it's also bad for your gas mileage, affects the way your car handles and
is generally unsafe.

PROBLEMS WITH TYRES

When tyres are under-inflated, the tread wears more quickly.

According to Goodyear, this equates to 15 percent fewer miles you can
drive on them for every 20 percent that they're underinflated.
Underinflated tyres also overheat more quickly than properly inflated
tyres, which cause more tyre damage. The faded areas below indicate
areas of excessive tread wear.

14
 Because tyres are flexible, they flatten at the bottom when
they roll. This contact patch rebounds to its original shape once it is no
longer in contact with the ground. This rebound creates a wave of
motion along with some friction. When there is less air in the tyre, that
wave is larger and the friction created is greater and friction creates
heat. If enough heat is generated, the rubber that holds the tyre's cords
together begin to melt and the tyre fails. Because of the extra resistance
an underinflated tyre has when it rolls, your car's engine has to work
harder. A statistics show that tyres that are underinflated by as little as 2
psi reduce fuel efficiency by 10 percent. Over a year of driving, that
can amount to several hundred dollars in extra gas purchases.

15
 5. HOW TYRE PRESSURE GAUGES WORK

Underinflation can cause tyres to wear more on the outside

than the inside. It also causes reduced fuel efficiency and increased heat
buildup in the tyres. It is important to check the tyre pressure with a
guage at least once a month. so it is essential to have a tyre pressure
monitoring system in our vehicles.

Inside the Pressure Gauge the parts of a typical pressure gauge look
like this:

There are three simple steps involved in measuring a tyre's

pressure with a pressure gauge: Get in a steady position to apply the
pressure gauge to the valve stem.

Apply the gauge, forming a good seal between the gauge and the
stem and releasing air from the tyre into the gauge. Note how the
pin inside the gauge presses against the valve pin inside the valve
stem to release air from the tyre.
Read the pressure from the gauge.

16
 Inside the tube that makes up the body of the pressure gauge,
there is a small, tight-sealing piston much like the piston inside a
bicycle pump. The inside of the tube is polished smooth. The piston is
made of soft rubber so it seals nicely against the tube, and the inside of
the tube is lubricated with a light oil to improve the seal. In the picture
below, you can see that the piston is at one end of the tube and the stop
is at the other. A spring runs the length of the tube between the piston
and the stop, and this compressed spring pushes the piston toward the
left-hand side of the tube.

The funny spherical thing on the left end of the gauge is

hollow. The opening in the sphere is designed to engage a tyre's valve
stem. If you look in the opening, you will be able to see a rubber seal
and a small fixed pin. The rubber seal presses against the lip of the
valve stem to prevent air from leaking during the measurement, and the
pin depresses the valve pin in the valve stem to let air flow into the
gauge. The air will flow around the pin, through the hollow passage

17
inside the sphere and into the piston chamber. When the pressure gauge
is applied to the valve stem of a tyre, the pressurized air from the tyre
rushes in and pushes the piston toward the right. The distance the piston
travels is relative to the pressure in the tyre. The pressurized air is
pushing the piston to the right, and the spring is pushing
back. The gauge is designed to have some maximum pressure, and for
the sake of example let's say it is 60 psi. The spring has been calibrated
so that 60-psi air will move the piston to the far-right of the tube, while
30 psi moves the piston half-way along the tube, and so on. When you
release the gauge from the valve stem, the flow of pressurized air stops
and the spring immediately pushes the piston back to the left. To allow
you to read the pressure, there is a calibrated rod inside the tube:

The spring is not shown in this figure, but the calibrated rod
fits inside the spring. The calibrated rod rides on top of the piston, but
the rod and the piston are not connected and there is a fairly tight fit
between the rod and the stop. When the piston moves to the right, it
pushes the calibrated rod. When the pressure is released, the piston
moves back to the left but the rod stays in its maximum position to
allow you to read the pressure.

18
 6. SELF-INFLATING SYSTEMS

Tyre-inflation systems have three general goals:

Detect when the air pressure in a particular tyre has dropped -

This means they have to constantly (or intermittently)
monitor the air pressure in each tyre.
Notify the driver of the problem
Inflate that tyre back to the proper level - This means there
has to be an air supply as well as a check valve that opens
only when needed.

Parts of Any Self-inflating System

While the available tyre inflation systems vary in design, they

share some common elements.

They all use some type of valve to isolate individual tyres to

prevent airflow from all tyres when one is being checked or
inflated.
They have a method for sensing the tyre pressures. This is
addressed in most cases with central sensors that relay
information to an electronic control unit and then to the driver.
They have an air source, which is usually an existing onboard
source such as braking or pneumatic systems. When using an
existing system, however, they have to ensure that they don't
jeopardize its original function. For this reason, there are

19
 safety checks to ensure that there is enough air pressure for
the source's primary use before pulling air for tyre inflation.

There has to be a way to get the air from the air source to the
tyres, which is usually through the axle. Systems either use a
sealed-hub axle with a hose from the hub to the tyre valve or
else they run tubes through the axle with the axle acting as a
conduit.

There has to be a pressure relief vent to vent air from the tyre
without risking damage to the hub or rear-axle seals.

BASICS OF PNEUMATIC:

PNEUMATICS
The word pneuma comes from Greek and means breather wind.
The word pneumatics is the study of air movement and its phenomena is
derived from the word pneuma. Today pneumatics is mainly understood to
means the application of air as a working medium in industry especially the
driving and controlling of machines and equipment.

Pneumatics has for some considerable time between used for

carrying out the simplest mechanical tasks in more recent times has played
a more important role in the development of pneumatic technology for
automation.
Pneumatic systems operate on a supply of compressed air which
must be made available in sufficient quantity and at a pressure to suit the
capacity of the system. When the pneumatic system is being adopted for
the first time, however it wills indeed the necessary to deal with the
question of compressed air supply.

20
 The key part of any facility for supply of compressed air is by means
using reciprocating compressor. A compressor is a machine that takes in air,
gas at a certain pressure and delivered the air at a high pressure.
Compressor capacity is the actual quantity of air compressed and
delivered and the volume expressed is that of the air at intake conditions
namely at atmosphere pressure and normal ambient temperature.
The compressibility of the air was first investigated by Robert Boyle
in 1962 and that found that the product of pressure and volume of a
particular quantity of gas.

The usual written as

PV = C (or) PV = P2V2
In this equation the pressure is the absolute pressured which for free
is about 14.7 Psi and is of courage capable of maintaining a column of
mercury, nearly 30 inches high in an ordinary barometer. Any gas can be
used in pneumatic system but air is the mostly used system now a days.

SELECTION OF PNEUMATICS
Mechanization is broadly defined as the replacement of manual
effort by mechanical power. Pneumatic is an attractive medium for low cost
mechanization particularly for sequential (or) repetitive operations. Many
factories and plants already have a compressed air system, which is capable
of providing the power (or) energy requirements and the control system
(although equally pneumatic control systems may be economic and can be
advantageously applied to other forms of power).

The main advantage of an all pneumatic system are usually

economic and simplicity the latter reducing maintenance to a low level. It
can also have out standing advantages in terms of safety.

21
PRODUCTION OF COMPRESSED AIR
Pneumatic systems operate on a supply of compressed air, which
must be made available, in sufficient quantity and pressure to suit the
capacity of the system. When pneumatic system is being adopted for the
first time, however it wills indeed the necessary to deal with the question of
compressed air supply.
The key part of any facility for supply of compressed air is by
means using reciprocating compressor. A compressor is a machine that
takes in air, gas at a certain pressure and delivered the air at a high pressure.
Compressor capacity is the actual quantity of air compressed and
delivered and the volume expressed is that of the air at intake conditions
namely at atmosphere pressure and normal ambient temperature.
Clean condition of the suction air is one of the factors, which decides
the life of a compressor. Warm and moist suction air will result in increased
precipitation of condense from the compressed air. Compressor may be
classified in two general types.
1. Positive displacement compressor.
2. Turbo compressor
Positive displacement compressors are most frequently employed
for compressed air plant and have proved highly successful and
supply air for pneumatic control application.
The types of positive compressor
1. Reciprocating type compressor
2. Rotary type compressor

Turbo compressors are employed where large capacity of air

required at low discharge pressures. They cannot attain pressure

22
 necessary for pneumatic control application unless built in multistage
designs and are seldom encountered in pneumatic service.

RECIPROCATING COMPRESSORS
Built for either stationary (or) portable service the reciprocating
compressor is by far the most common type. Reciprocating compressors lap
be had is sizes from the smallest capacities to deliver more than 500
m/min. In single stage compressor, the air pressure may be of 6 bar
machines discharge of pressure is up to 15 bars. Discharge pressure in the
range of 250 bars can be obtained with high pressure reciprocating
compressors that of three & four stages.

Single stage and 1200 stage models are particularly suitable for
pneumatic applications , with preference going to the two stage design as
soon as the discharge pressure exceeds 6 bar , because it in capable of
matching the performance of single stage machine at lower costs per
driving powers in the range .

The air compressor concept was chosen in the preliminary design of an automatic tire
pressure maintenance system. A prototype system was built under the small business
assistance project to address the safety and economic issues of underinflated automobile
tires frequently driven on American's roadways. A portable prototype has been created
to handcarry to trade shows and potential customers. The portable system is designed
for demonstrations, and may be powered either by a portable 12-volt, sealed lead-acid
battery (with a 110-volt AC battery charger), or by a 12-volt DC output, 110-volt AC
power converter. The system features a mounted tire and wheel, attached to a pedestal
by a bearing, with a handle for manually rotating the tire. A carrying case is included.
The pedestal contains an air compressor, pressure switch, and vent valve, with
associated tubing and wired connections to a control box with an internal pressure
sensor. The prototype has some features similar to the Dana Corporation's central tire
inflation systems (CTIS) which have found utility in the trucking industry, particularly
in off-road vehicles, and have been employed with both trailer axle vehicles and tractor

23
drive axle vehicles. The CTIS is currently available on some models of the Hummer,
but, says Petty, "Hopefully someday all vehicles will be equipped with a device that will
help save lives."

24
 8. TYRE MAINTENANCE SYSTEM (TMS)

Dana Corporation's Tyre Maintenance System is a "smart"

system for tractor trailers that monitors tyre pressure and inflates
tyres as necessary to keep pressure at the right level. It uses air
from the trailer's brake supply tank to inflate the tyres.

The system has three main components:

The tyre hose assembly provides the air route to inflate the tyre
and has check valves so that the air lines and seals do not have to
be pressurized when the system is not checking or inflating the
tyres. This cuts down on wear and tear on the seals.

The rotary joint is comprised of air and oil seals and bearings and
connects the air hose from the non-rotating axle to the rotating
hubcap. Its air seals prevent leakage, and the oil seal prevents
contamination. The rotary hub also has a vent to release air
pressure in the hubcap.

The manifold houses the pressure protection valve, which makes

sure the system doesn't pull air if the brakes' air supply is below 80

25
 psi. It also houses an inlet filter to keep the air clean, a pressure
sensor to measure tyre pressures and solenoids that control airflow
to the tyres.

Like the CTIS, this system also has an electronic control unit
that runs the entyre system. It performs checks to make sure the system
is operational, notifies the driver via a warning light on the trailer
(visible through the rear-view mirror) if a tyre's pressure drops more
than 10 percent below its normal pressure and performs system
diagnostics.

The system performs an initial pressure check and adds air to

any tyre that needs it. The check valves in each tyre hose ensure that
the other tyres don't lose pressure while one tyre is being inflated. After
an initial pressure check, the system depressurizes to relieve pressure
from the seals. Every 10 minutes, the system pressurizes the lines and
rechecks tyre pressures.

The system measures tyre pressure using a series of air pulses

in the air lines. If the target pressure in the line is not reached after a
certain amount of time, the system begins inflating the tyres until the
correct pressure is reached.

26
9. THE FUTURE OF SELF-INFLATING TYRES

Michelin is working with several other companies to develop an

active pressure-management system called TIPM (Tyre Intelligent
Pressure Management), due to be available sometime in 2005. This
system has a compressor that automatically adjusts the pressure in each
tyre while the vehicle is in operation to compensate for leaks and slow-
leak punctures. The driver will be able to adjust the pressure depending
on the desired driving mode: comfort, sporty, all-terrain or over-
obstacle.

There are at least two other systems in the early development

stages that are oriented toward the consumer market the En-tyre
system and the Cycloid Air Pump system.

The entire self inflating system uses a valve that pulls in air
from the atmosphere. It then pumps the air into the under-inflated tyre
using a peristaltic-pump action. The goal is to constantly maintain a
specific pressure.

27
 The En-tyre system is based on this type of peristaltic pump
mechanism.

The Auto Pump tyre-inflator system has a small, wheel-hub-

mounted pump that is powered by the turning of the wheels. When the
system's monitor detects a drop in pressure of 2 to 3 psi, it pumps air
into the underinflated tyre. Auto Pump has a warning system that is
activated when there is a puncture.

Self-inflating Tyres for Bicycles and Motorcycles

Now cyclists can also motor with the peace of mind that a flat
tyre isn't going to ruin their ride. Bridgestone Cycle of Japan has
developed the Air Hub, which uses a rotating air pump that replenishes
air in the tyre as you pedal. Like the En-tyre method, it keeps the air in
the tyres at a constant pressure level. The air pump is in the hub and is
run by the rotation of the wheel. A small tube runs compressed air to
the tyre's air valve to maintain the pressure. When the air pressure in

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 the tyre is where it should be, excess air is exhausted through a device
in the middle of the hose.
Pirelli has also come up with a self-inflating tyre system for motorcycles
and scooters. The Pirelli Safety Wheel System uses a monitoring system
along with a special rim and an internal tube containing compressed air.
It also has a valve to regulate the pressure between the tube and the tyre.
When the tyre deflates naturally, the valve opens and pumps air into the
tyre until it reaches the correct pressure. If there is a puncture, the system
warns the rider as it allows air to move into the tyre.

MERITS

There are many dangers to having under inflated tyres, because they are
designed for use at their recommended pressure. Under inflation can lead to increased
deformation in the tyre wall as it concentrates the load upon the tread shoulders, this
reduces the amount of surface contact the tyre has with the road. This can have many
consequences.

Increased wear of the tyres treads which will lead to a higher chance of
aquaplaning in the wet.
Reduced handling characteristics and a reduced control of the vehicle.
Longer stopping distances.
Higher chance of the tyre delaminating, which could lead to a sudden tyre
failure.

DEMERITS

High capital investment

In measurement of high pressures, cost of sensors is more.
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 Higher temperature will affect the proper working of the sensors.

APPLICATIONS

Automobile Application
Car Manufacturing Industry
All two wheeler application
All four wheeler applications
Industries where different pneumatic pressures are required from the same
compressor used in pneumatic, controller machines.

10. CONCLUSION

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 Thus self inflating tyres help us in attaining certain helpful
criterions.
1. It helps in the monitoring of tyre pressure constantly
2. Thus it provides inflation or deflation of the tyre
3. It helps in attaining better mileage
4. It also helps in providing comfortable driving.

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 11. REFERENCES

1. Crouse.Anglin, Automotive Mechanics, Tata McGraw Hills.

2. www.howstuffswork.com
3. www.cycloid.com
4. www.goodyeartyres.com

Tyre inflation system

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