TYRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEM

HILMI BIN MOHD ZAHIDI

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements

for the award of the degree of
Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering with Automotive Engineering

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA PAHANG

DECEMBER 2010
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UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA PAHANG

FACULTY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

I certify that the project entitled “Tyre Pressure Monitoring System” is written by Hilmi
Mohd Zahidi. I have examined the final copy of this project and in my opinion; it is fully
adequate in terms of scope and quality for the award of the degree of Bachelor of
Engineering. I herewith recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering with Automotive
Engineering.

Ms Miminorazeansuhaila Loman ..........................................

Examiner Signature
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SUPERVISOR’S DECLARATION

I hereby declare that I have checked this project and in my opinion, this project is adequate
in terms of scope and quality for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Mechanical
Engineering with Automotive Engineering.

Signature:
Name of Supervisor: DR. YUSNITA RAHAYU
Position: LECTURER
Date: 06 DECEMBER 2010
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STUDENT’S DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the work in this project is my own except for quotations and
summaries which have been duly acknowledge. The project has not been accepted for any
degree and is not concurently submitted for award of other degree.

Signature:
Name: HILMI BIN MOHD ZAHIDI
ID Number: MH07035
Date: 06 DECEMBER 2010
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Allah SWT for guiding me to design
and develop this project. To Dr Yusnita Rahayu, thank you for your advices and
suggestions that really encourage me throughout the project.

Although it was a short and brief meeting, I would still like to express my
appreciation to Professor Amin Alias for his ideas to improve my project. Also special
thanks to all my course mates for giving me supports and motivations throughout this
project.

To my parents, Mohd Zahidi and Fadzlina, thank you for being great supporters and
motivators. Finally, I want to thank all people who involve directly and indirectly in this
project.
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ABSTRACT

Tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS) is an electronic system that monitors the air
pressure of an automobile tire and alerts the driver by displaying the real pressure or just a
warning light. This project is focused on designing and developing a direct TPMS which
the measurement of the air pressure is taken directly using pressure sensor. Suitable
components are researched to design the prototype. Main components needed are pressure
sensor, voltage-to-frequency converter, transmitter, receiver, and frequency-to-voltage
converter. To power the prototype, piezoelectric method is chosen instead of using lithium
battery. However, due to limitations and problems faced, piezoelectric method will be
discussed by assuming the design of power generator. Main components need to be
calibrated to ensure the consistency and precision of the prototype in reporting the pressure.
Calibration for pressure sensor is performed by simply applying a known value of pressure
and the output voltage is measured. For voltage-to-frequency and frequency-to-voltage
converters, a known value of voltage or frequency is applied and the output is monitored
using voltmeter and oscilloscope. The results show promising data by proving the
relationship between the input and output for each component. Piezoelectric method is also
discussed but in terms of the design of the circuit. As for the conclusion, although there are
many problems and limitations faced, this prototype is a promising product in real world
application.
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ABSTRAK

Sistem pemantauan tekanan udara dalam tayar ialah satu sistem elektronik yang memantau
tekanan udara dalam tayar kenderaan dan menyedarkan pemandu dengan menunjukkan
tekanan udara yang sebenar atau lampu amaran. Projek ini tertumpukan kepada mereka dan
mencipta sistem pemantauan tekanan udara secara langsung yang bermaksud pengukuran
tekanan udara diambil secara langsung daripada pengesan tekanan udara. Komponen-
komponen yang sesuai dikaji untuk mereka prototaip. Komponen-komponen utama terdiri
daripada pengesan tekanan udara, penukar voltan-kepada-frekuensi, penyampai frekuensi,
penerima frekuensi, dan penukar frekuensi-kepada-voltan. Kaedah piezoelektrik digunakan
untuk memberi kuasa kepada prototaip sebagai alternatif kepada bateri litium.
Walaubagaimanapun, banyak masalah yang dihadapi dan kaedah ini dibincangkan dengan
membuat anggapan terhadap penggunaan litar penghasilan kuasa. Komponen-komponen
utama perlu dikalibrasi untuk memastikan ketepatan dan betapa konsisten prototaip ini
mampu untuk member laporan nilai tekanan udara. Kalibrasi pengesan tekanan udara
dilakukan dengan memberi nilai tekanan udara yang diketahui dan voltan yang terhasil
direkodkan. Untuk penukar voltan-kepada-frekensi dan frekuensi-kepad-voltan, voltan atau
frekuensi yang diketahui nilainya dikenakan dan hasil keluaran diperhatikan menggunakan
pengukur voltmeter dan oscilloscope. Keputusan yang ditunjukkan sangat
memberangsangkan kerana data yang diambil berjaya menununjukkan hubungan antara
masukan dan keluaran untuk setiap komponen. Kaedah piezoelektrik dibincangkan dari
segi reka bentuk litar. Sebagai kesimpulan, walaupun ada banyak masalah yang dihadapi,
prototaip ini mampu diaplikasikan ke industri.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
EXAMINER SIGNATURE ii
SUPERVISOR’S DECLARATION iii
STUDENT’S DECLARATION iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v
ABSTRACT vi
ABSTRAK vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS viii
LIST OF TABLES xi
LIST OF FIGURES xii
LIST OF SYMBOLS xiv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xv

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Problem Statement 3

1.2 Objective 3
1.3 Scope 4

CHAPTER 2 OVERVIEW OF TPMS

2.1 Introduction 5
2.2 General Operation of Traditional TPMS 5
2.3 Direct TPMS 7
2.3.1 Air Pressure Monitoring System of Vehicle Tire and 8
Identification Method of Vehicle Tire (LI Wei, & Chen
Hongling., 2005)
2.3.2 Tyre Pressure Monitoring (TPM) System (R. Lourens, 8
& C. Kell,. 2009).
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2.3.3 Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (Matsumura, & T. 9

Chiyoda-ku., 2008)

2.4 Indirect TPMS 10

2.4.1 Supervision of Vehicle’s Tyre Pressures By 10
Measurement of Body Accelerations (C. Halfmann, M.
Ayoubi, & H.Holzmann., 1997).
2.4.2 Indirect Tyre Pressure Monitoring Using Sensor Fusion 10
(N. Persson, & F. Gustafsson., 2002)
2.5 Wireless Transmission 11
2.6 Self-generating Power System 12
2.6.1 Piezoelectric Method 12
2.6.2 Surface Acoustic Wave 12
2.6.3 Electromagnetic Coupling System 13

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction 14
3.2 Block Diagram of the Prototype TPMS 16
3.3 Components Selection 18
3.3.1 Receiver and Transmitter 18
3.3.2 Pressure Sensor 21
3.3.3 Piezoelectric Material 23
3.4 Calibration of Components 25
3.4.1 Calibration of Pressure Sensor 26
3.4.2 Calibration of V/F & F/V Converters 28
3.5 Generating Power Using Piezoelectric Material 31

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Introduction 32
4.2 Components 32
4.2.1 Pressure Sensor 32
4.2.2 V/F & F/V Converters 35

4.3 Display Unit 38

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4.4 Power Using Piezoelectric Material 39

4.4.1 Piezoelectric Voltage Coefficient 40
4.4.2 Series Circuit 40
4.4.3 Power Generator 41

4.5 Final Block Diagram of the Prototype TPMS 42

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION

5.1 Recommendation 45
5.2 Costing and Commercialization 45

REFERENCES 46
APPENDICES 47
A Final Year Project Gantt Chart 47
B Datasheet for Receiver and Transmitter 48
C Datasheet for Pressure Sensor 52
D Datasheet for Piezoelectric 55
E Datasheet for V/F and F/V Converter 56
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LIST OF TABLES

Table No. Title Page

3.1 Materials and Applications 23

4.1 Value of Pressure vs Voltage 32

4.2 Value of Voltage vs Frequency 35

4.3 Value of Frequency vs Voltage 36

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure No. Title Page

2.1 Schematic Diagram of General Operation of a Direct TPMS 6

2.2 Tire Pressure Measuring Module 9

2.3 Architecture of Battery-less TPMS (Y. Li et al., 2007) 13

3.1 Flow Chart 15-16

3.2 Block Diagram of TPMS 18

3.3 Receiver Module 19

3.4 Mechanical Dimension of Receiver Module 20

3.5 Transmitter Module 20

3.6 Mechanical Dimension of Transmitter Module 21

3.7 Pressure Sensor RXUP030DN 22

3.8 Piezoelectric Material Pz26 25

3.9 Relationship of Input Pressure and Output Voltage. 26

3.10 Calibration of Pressure Sensor 27

3.11 Voltage (V) vs Frequency (khz) 28

3.12 Frequency (kHz) vs Voltage (V) 29

3.13 Calibration of V/F and F/V Converter 29

3.14 Calibration of V/F and F/V Converter (closer look) 30

4.1 Pressure vs Voltage Graph 32

4.2 Equivalent Circuit for the Pressure Sensor 33

4.3 Voltage vs Frequency Graph 34

4.4 Frequency vs Voltage Graph 36

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4.5 Series Circuit for Pz26 39

4.6 Block Diagram of Power Generator Unit (Liji WU,. 2009). 40

4.7 Completed Circuit 41

4.8 Block Diagram of the Prototype 42

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LIST OF SYMBOLS

V Voltage

Vin Input voltage

fin Input frequency

Vref Reference voltage

Rin Input resistance

Cref Reference capacitance

Ω Ohm

g Piezoelectric voltage coefficient

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

TREAD Transportation Recall Enhancement Accountability and Documentation

NHTSA The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

TPMS Tyre Pressure Monitoring System

MCU Microcontroller Unit

ID Identification

I/O Input/Output

LF Low frequency

S/TX Sensor/transmitter

DL Data line

ABS Auto-braking system

IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

MHz Megahertz

SAW Surface acoustic wave

IDT Interdigital transducer

AC/DC Alternating current/direct current

DC/DC Direct current/direct current

V/F Voltage-to-frequency

F/V Frequency-to-voltage

LED Light-emitting diode

NDT Non-destructive test

PIC Programmable Interrupt Controller

PCB Printed board circuit

 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Every year, many accidents occurred and for certain cases, accidents are caused by
under-inflated tyres. Under-inflated tyres could promote to problems such as blowouts,
decreased tyre life, and handling. Due to this awareness of the importance of tyre pressure,
US government has introduced Transportation Recall Enhancement Accountability and
Documentation (TREAD) Act (www.nhtsa.gov, February 2010). This act requires all
passenger cars, van, and light trucks to include low tyre pressure warning systems as
standard equipment. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
oversees the TREAD Act and has expressed an interest in extending the legislation to other
types of vehicle. As a result, NHTSA established Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
which requires the installation of tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS’s) that warn the
drivers when a tyre is significantly under-inflated (25% of the right pressure).

The significant of running the tyres at the specified pressure helps provide proper
vehicle handling (thus, reducing the chance of accident) while avoiding premature tyre
wear. The right pressure for a vehicle is well-stated on the tyre information label or tyre
placard located on a door edge or door jamb, or inside the glove-box door. The label also
lists maximum load and tire size (including spare). Underinflated tyres wear on the outsides
of the tread. Also, the tyres flex excessively which produces extra heat and more rapid
wear. Over inflation causes the center of the tread to wear. The tyre cannot flex normally
and this puts stress on the sidewalls and plies.
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It is not convenient to frequently check the tyre pressure using pressure gauge. For
long journey, tyre pressure may vary from time to time due to load, road irregularities, and
temperature. Hence, one could not possibly know the condition of the tyre and that had
caused many tyre blowouts especially for heavy trucks. Hence, TPMS is introduced. TPMS
is an electronic system that observes and monitors the air pressure. Certain TPMS also
monitors the temperature of the automobile tyre. The system alerts the driver of the vehicle
of the air pressure inside the tyres by displaying the real pressure or just a warning light.
Some of the car manufacturers already installed their own TPMS on their vehicles.

TPMS has two styles of indicating the tyre is underinflated or overinflated, that is
directly and indirectly. In direct TPMS, pressure sensor is used where the measurement is
directly taken from the tyre pressure itself. Generally, a direct TPMS consists of
transmitting and detection unit at each tyre (temperature and pressure sensor,
microcontroller unit (MCU), transmitter, battery, and protective casing) and a receiving and
display unit (battery, receiver, MCU, display unit, casing, switch set, and display screen).
The transmitting and detection unit will take the reading of the tyre pressure and
temperature and transmit it via radio signals to receiving and display unit. This unit will
process the data and show in display or just give a warning light (LI Wei, & Chen
Hongling., 2005).

Indirect TPMS uses existing sensors and software algorithm to identify the tyre’s
condition (under/over-inflated). There are many on-going researches and development
projects on this method and could be classified into two main classes. The first class is by
using vibration analysis. It treats the tyre as a spring that is excited by the road
irregularities. The concept is to monitor the resonance frequency which is correlated to the
tyre pressure. The second class is by using wheel radius analysis which based on the fact
that the tyre pressure affects the effective rolling radius of the tyre (N. Persson, & F.
Gustafsson., 2002).

The method used for this project is direct TPMS. It will be discussed further in
Chapter 3 and Chapter 4.
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1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENTS

The first problem statement is the location of the sytem. The transmitting and
detection unit will be located inside the tyre. The location of the system is crucial for safety
aspect and precision of the data that will be gained. The second problem statement is the
size of the system which the size of the transmitting and detection unit needs to be small
enough if it were to locate inside the tyre. The third is wireless transmission; when tyre is
rotating, the transmitting and detection unit will be transposed. Tyre identification might be
miscorrelated and the information displayed on the screen about the pressure and
temperature as correlated with the tyre is wrong.

The fourth problem statement is sensor is using battery. Traditional direct TPMS
requires battery in each tyre to power the sensor and the circuits, but the use of batteries
raise potential problems including limited life span, temperature-dependent capability,
added weight, environmental concerns, and larger maintenance cost. The fifth and the last
problem statement is self-generating power. In this project, self-generating power system is
to be designed to replace the battery’s function as main power supply.

1.3 OBJECTIVE

The objective of this project is to design and develop direct tyre pressure monitoring
system.
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1.4 SCOPE

There are many ways to design and develop a TPMS. This project requires
extensive research that might widen up the scope. Hence, the project’s scope needs to be
defined first in order for this project to reach its objectives.

Transmitting and detection unit could be installed outside the tyre, but this will
increases the risk of being damaged by external environment and even get stolen. Hence,
the proper position of the unit would be inside the tyre where the measurement of the
pressure value is directly obtained. In order to place the transmitting and detection unit
inside the tyre, considerations of size of the unit needs to be taken. The size should be small
enough to fit in inside the tyre.

There are many ways to achieve wireless transmission. But this project will be
dedicated in using radio frequency method, where receiver and transmitter are needed.
Sensor is integrated with the transmitting and detection unit, thus it requires power supply.
Traditional direct TPMS using battery as the solution but it has a few problems. Hence, this
project will design a system that does not require battery. One of the alternatives is by using
piezoelectric method. When stress or pressure is applied on the piezoelectric material,
electric current will be produced. This current will be used to power the transmitting and
detection unit.
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CHAPTER 2

OVERVIEW OF TPMS

2.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter will discuss on previous invention of TPMS. It will include direct
TPMS, indirect TPMS, and self-power operation.

2.2 GENERAL OPERATION OF TRADITIONAL TPMS

An automobile tyre pressure monitoring system and tyre identification method

includes a transmitting and detection unit provided on each tyre, as well as a receiving and
display unit that includes a receiving unit, a main control unit and a display unit. A plug-in
encoding memory is plugged into the receiving and display unit. One fixed identification
(ID) code, which is the same as that for the encoding memory, is provided for each
transmitting and detection unit.

When the power is on, the receiving and display unit reads the ID code in each
plug-in encoding memory plugged into the socket of the display unit, and saves the
information on the corresponding relationships between ID codes saved in memories and
tyre identity. The receiving and display unit reads the ID codes in it, and determines
whether these codes are identical with those in the memories. If the signal is valid, the
receiving and display unit compares the corresponding relationships, determines which tyre
the detection unit is transmitting the signal, and displays the information about pressure and
temperature in corresponding display areas.
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As shown in Figure 2.1, an automobile tyre pressure monitoring system generally

consists of a transmitting and detection unit 92 and a receiving and display unit 91, which
thereupon comprises display unit 9101, receiving unit 9102 and receiving antenna 9103.
The left side of Figure 2.1 is a front sketch diagram of the display unit, i.e, the screen that is
displayed on the automobile instrument panel. The display unit 91901 of an ordinary
automobile includes four data display areas 91011, that displays the parameters of the four
tyres respectively. The broken lines in Figure 2.1 represent the correlations between the
display area 91011 and the respective tyres.

Figure 2.1: Schematic diagram of general operation of a direct TPMS

Source: Wei and Hongling 2005

The operation process is as follows: The sensor in the transmitting and detection
unit 92 converts variation of the tyre pressure into electric parameters which vary
accordingly to electronic component induction. Then, the electric parameters are processed
by a MCU in the transmitting and detection unit into digital code signals. After
identification of the ID of the digital code signals in this unit (used to distinguish it from
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other units) is completed, these code signals are transmitted via a carrier frequency by a
transmitter. The original data is recovered after the radio signals are received and
demodulated by the receiver antenna 9103. Then, after being processed by the MCU of
receiving and display unit, the data is displayed on the corresponding tyre data area of the
user’s interface by the display screen installed in the vehicle. In this way, the driver can
clearly know the pressure in each tyre. When the received data shows the pressure in the
tyre lower or higher than the set limit, the MCU will show an alarm icon on the display
screen. The driver can then take appropriate action for the tyre according to the data of tyre
pressure shown so as to ensure safe driving.

Fixed encoding method: The correlation between ID code in the MCU memory of
the receiving and display unit and the tire identification information is fixed at the factory.
The same ID code is also fixed in the MCU memory of the transmitting and detecting unit
and is marked on the surface of the transmitting and detection unit. During the installation,
the transmitting and detection units are installed on the corresponding tyres in accordance
with the marks and no change is allowed during application. This method is quite simple
and its shortcoming is that wrong installation is not allowed. Otherwise, identification
confusion may arise. Meanwhile, if a transmission unit is damaged, the user has to go to the
manufacturer for repair or replacement. The transmitting and detecting units must be
reinstalled in accordance with their marked positions when the tyres are rotated.

2.3 DIRECT TPMS

This part will explain the present invention of direct TPMS. Basic principle is still
the same but every invention uses different approach to realize the application. Some
inventions used different materials, and some used different circuit.
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2.3.1 Air Pressure Monitoring System of Vehicle Tire and Identification Method of
Vehicle Tire by Wei and Hongling

This invention adopts encoding plug-in technology and converts the re-
identification issue caused by tyre transposition and tyre replacement into the issue of
resetting the ID code. Thus, it provides a simple and effective technological solution for
tyre re-identification. Because of the adoption of plug-in method, the operation is easy and
reliable.

The invention adopts the encoding technology, reads the ID code in the plug-in
encoding memory via input/output (I/O) rather than via radio signals. Consequently, it
avoids the problem of low frequency (LF) signal in LF wake-up being disturbed in
transmitting by the electromagnetic noise in the automobile and essentially solves the
disturbance problem.

2.3.2 Tyre Pressure Monitoring (TPM) System by Lourens and Kell

This invention explains a typical TPM system specifically intended for automotive
use. It serves as a reference to design a real-world system based on various Microchip
products. A TPM system primarily monitors the internal temperature and pressure of an
automobile’s tyre. There is a variety of system approaches to follow, although this one is a
rather comprehensive auto-location system.

An auto-location system can dynamically detect the position of a specific sensor,

which is useful when tyres are rotated. The heart of the TPM system is the
Sensor/Transmitter (S/TX) device and it is based on Microchip’s rfPIC12F675.
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2.3.3 TPMS by Matsumura and Chiyoda-ku

The TPMS includes a tyre pressure measuring module 1. The tyre pressure
measuring module 1 has a microcomputer 3, an activation control circuit 21, a pressure
sensor 22, a temperature sensor 23, a frequency divider 4, a transmitting circuit 5, and a
battery 10. The microcomputer 3 has a clock pulse generator 31, analog-to-digital converter
circuits 32, 33 and a controller 34. The transmitting circuit 5; 50 has an oscillator circuit 53;
56. The frequency divider 4 divides the frequency of a carrier wave (CW) output from the
oscillator circuit 53; 56 to generate a clock signal, and outputs the clock signal to the
controller 34 included in the microcomputer 3. The clock signal is used for the timing for
outputting data to a data signal line (DL). The clock signal for high precision data
transmission can be generated without the need to provide an expensive oscillator in the
microcomputer 3 since the oscillator circuit 53; 56 is used in the transmitting circuit 5; 50,
and the clock signal used for data transmission by the microcomputer 3 is generated by the
inexpensive frequency divider 4.

Figure 2.2: Tyre pressure measuring module

Source: Matsumura and Chiyoda-ku 2008