Page 48 - The Tyreman N53 2022-02
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international news
In a joint project between Falken’s parent company Sumitomo Rubber Industries and Professor Hiroshi Tani of Kansai Universi-
ty, Japan, an innovative power generator for tyres was developed. It uses the rotation of a tyre to generate electricity and supply power to peripheral sensors installed in the tyre with- out relying on batteries.
This ‘Miniature Energy Harvester’ is a sus- tainable technique to measure tyre wear. The technology enables the calculation of a tyre’s contact patch and wheel rotation, and harvests stress levels based on amplitude changes induced by tyre rotation. The data obtained could then be extrapolated to deter- mine tyre wear.
At the same time, the research team devel- oped a technique to measure the tyre contact patch by installing several miniature energy harvesters in each tyre and reading the data they gather. These new technologies are said provide information that could be incorporated into future tyre developments.
“This new Energy Harvester technology is a big step towards the implementation of our sustainability policy as it supports us in devel- oping tyres with an optimised contact patch - haupt, Managing Director at Sumitomo Rub- ber Europe GmbH. “As part of the ‘Driving Our Future Challenge 2050’ climate change pledge, we are developing innovative solu- tions for increased safety and less environ- mental impact to actively shape the transfor-
* Voltage Waveform (Y-Axis: X-Axis: Voltage
48 the tyreman 2022/2
