JP2011218893A - Pneumatic tire - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a pneumatic tire in which information can be read and written even in a state in which a plane, to which a RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag of a tire is attached, is grounded to the surface of land.SOLUTION: An antenna of a RFID tag 1 strides across a ground plane during normal weight and normal internal pressure from an axis direction center of the back surface of a tread part 3, and is extended, by 2 to 3 cm, to out of a grounding end from a position of a grounding end (tread end) 3a of a tire. When the plane to which the RFID tag of the tire is attached is grounded to the surface of land, a RFID reader/writer 7 is made to approach to a gap existing, between the tire tread part 3 containing the antenna and the surface of land, from a tire side plane side, and information of the RFID tag is read and written.

Description

  The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire to which an RFID tag is attached.

  There is an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag as a non-contact type information recording / reproducing apparatus capable of writing or reading information using radio waves. The RFID tag is attached to a tire, and information related to the tire is written to or read from the RFID tag to manage the tire. For example, in Patent Document 1, an electronic device assembly (RFID tag) that communicates various information related to tire identification and / or measurement values of a selected physical state of the tire is attached to the inner surface of the sidewall of the tire. A tire assembly is disclosed.

  However, when the RFID tag is attached to the inner surface of the sidewall of the tire, the RFID tag is easily affected by the bending or expansion / contraction of the rubber tire during rotation of the tire, and may be peeled off, detached, or damaged. . For this reason, it is necessary to attach the RFID tag in consideration of a place where deformation of the tire is small or a direction where deformation is small.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the appearance of a conventional RFID tag in consideration of such tire deformation. The RFID tag 11 shown in FIG. 5 includes an IC chip 11a and a rectangular antenna 11b having the IC chip 11a connected to the center. FIG. 6 is a partial schematic cross-sectional view in the tire width direction showing a state in which the RFID tag is attached to the tire. The inner side surface of the tread of the pneumatic tire 12 is hardly deformed in the axial direction, although there is a large change in shape in the rotation direction (circumferential direction) at the time of ground contact. Therefore, a rectangular RFID tag is attached so as to be long in the axial direction of the tire 12 and short in the rotational direction.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, a wireless tag (RFID tag) can be accommodated and fixed in a stable state for a long period of time while being attached to a rim mounting side of a tread region of a tire and protected from external impact or vibration. A pneumatic tire is disclosed.

JP-T-2006-514800 JP 2007-176403 A

However, when the RFID tag is attached as shown in FIG. 2, when the surface of the tire where the RFID tag is attached is in contact with the ground, the information reading surface is completely hidden, so the information cannot be read or written. There is a problem.
Further, the pneumatic tire described in Patent Document 2 also has a problem that information cannot be read and written when the surface of the tire attached with the RFID tag is in contact with the ground.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and the object of the present invention is to enable reading and writing of information even when the surface of the tire attached with the RFID tag is in contact with the ground. It is to provide a pneumatic tire.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a pneumatic tire to which a non-contact type information recording / reproducing device for inputting / outputting information by radio wave reading / writing device is attached. Are arranged so as to be in the tire axial direction, and the antenna of the information recording / reproducing apparatus extends over the tire ground contact surface and extends to at least one of the ground contact ends.
The antenna of the information recording / reproducing apparatus preferably extends over the tire ground contact surface and extends to the outside of both ground contact ends.

In the present invention, even when the surface of the tire attached with the RFID tag is in contact with the ground, the RFID reader / writer is brought close to the gap between the tire portion where the antenna is located and the ground from the side of the tire. Thus, it is possible to read and write information of the RFID tag, so that the readability of the RFID tag can be greatly improved.
In addition, when the antenna is extended to both sides, reading and writing can be done from either side of the tire, so it is not affected by the orientation of the tire when assembling the rim, and an RFID tag is also attached when attaching the wheel to the vehicle. There is no need to worry about the side surface.

It is a figure which shows the external appearance of the RFID tag attached to the pneumatic tire of this invention. It is a figure showing roughly the electric circuit composition of an IC chip. It is a partial schematic sectional drawing of the tire width direction which shows the state which attached the RFID tag to the tire. It is a partial schematic sectional drawing of the tire width direction when reading / writing information with an RFID reader / writer. It is a figure which shows the external appearance of the conventional RFID tag. It is a partial schematic sectional drawing of the tire width direction which shows the state which attached the conventional RFID tag to the tire.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a view showing an appearance of an RFID tag attached to the pneumatic tire of the present invention. An RFID tag 1 that is a non-contact type information recording / reproducing apparatus includes an IC chip 1a and a long rectangular antenna 1b having an IC chip 1a connected to the center. The length of the antenna 1b of the RFID tag 1 is such that the IC chip 1a is positioned at the center in the axial direction on the back surface of the tire tread so that the antenna 1b is longer in the axial direction and shorter in the rotational direction. When attached, the longitudinal end of the antenna 1b straddles the inside of the ground contact surface at the time of normal load and normal internal pressure, and extends from the position of the ground contact end (tread end) 3a of the tire to 2 to 3 cm outside the ground contact end. It has become a length.
In FIG. 1, the shape of the antenna is a rectangle, but the shape of the antenna may be any shape as long as it is long.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing an electric circuit configuration of the IC chip shown in FIG. The IC chip 1 a includes a CPU 15, a memory (ROM) 16, a rewritable memory 17, and a transmission / reception unit 18.
The memory (ROM) 16 stores tire ID (identification code), and the rewritable memory 17 stores tire product information (manufacturing date, distribution process, inspection information, etc.). The transmission / reception unit 18 is connected to the antenna 1 b, receives radio waves from an external RFID reader / writer (read / write device) from the antenna 1 b, and an ID (identification code) stored in the memory (ROM) 16. Data stored in the memory 17 is transmitted to an external RFID reader / writer via the antenna 1b.

The above-described RFID tag 1 is a passive (passive) tag that operates using radio waves from an RFID reader / writer as an energy source. However, an active type (active type) that includes a battery and emits radio waves with its own power. ) Tag.
The communication method is an electromagnetic induction method in which energy and signals are transmitted by electromagnetically coupling the antenna coil of the RFID tag 1 and the antenna coil of the RFID reader / writer, and radio waves are transmitted between the antenna of the RFID tag 1 and the antenna of the RFID reader / writer. It may be a radio wave system that exchanges energy and signals.
The RFID tag 1 further includes a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, and the like for detecting the internal state of the tire, such as tire pressure and temperature, and a battery, and is used for a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS). You may be able to do it.

  FIG. 3 is a partial schematic cross-sectional view in the tire width direction showing a state where the RFID tag shown in FIG. 1 is attached to a tire. The pneumatic tire 2 includes a tread portion 3, a part of the sidewall portion 4 that is continuous to each side portion of the tread portion 3, and a bead portion 5 that is continuous to the inner peripheral side of each sidewall portion 4, Each of these parts is reinforced by a carcass 6 that extends in a toroidal manner between the bead parts and forms a tire skeleton. Further, the RFID tag 1 is disposed on the back surface of the tread part 3 in the tire axial direction (tire circumferential direction). Are arranged and attached (attached, fixed). Thus, since the RFID tag 1 is arranged, even if an external force is applied to the tire during traveling of the vehicle, the RFID tag 1 is hardly deformed in the axial direction of the back surface of the tire tread. Therefore, the occurrence of breakage of the IC chip, disconnection of the antenna coupling portion, or the like is greatly suppressed.

The antenna 1b of the RFID tag 1 extends from the center in the axial direction on the back surface of the tire tread to the inside of the ground contact surface at the time of normal load and normal internal pressure. It extends and partially extends to the side wall 4, but is suppressed to a point where deformation is extremely small. Since the antenna 1b is provided up to the sidewall portion 4, a gap of about 1 to 2 cm can be present between the tire portion where the antenna 1b is located and the ground. Therefore, it is possible to read and write information by bringing the RFID reader / writer 7 (reading / writing device) closer to the tire side surface in the state shown in FIG.
Moreover, reading and writing can be performed from either side of the tire by extending the antenna to both sides. If reading and writing can be performed from either side of the tire, it is not affected by the orientation of the tire when assembling the rim, and there is no need to worry about the side surface with the RFID tag when attaching the wheel to the vehicle.
Of course, since reading and writing are possible even from the tire tread side, reading and writing are possible even when the tires are horizontally stacked and the sidewall portion 4 is hidden.

  Further, it is preferable that a mark indicating the attachment position of the RFID tag 1 is attached to the outer surface of the sidewall portion of the tire to which the RFID tag 1 is attached so that the RFID reader / writer 7 can reliably read and write information. . When the RFID reader / writer 7 is brought close to the gap between the tire portion and the ground at the position of this mark, information can be read and written reliably.

  As described above, in the present invention, it is possible to read and write information by bringing the RFID reader / writer closer from the tire tread side, so even when the tire is in a single state, information on the RFID tag attached to the tire Since the RFID reader / writer can be brought close to the side of the tire to read and write information, the tire is attached to the vehicle, and the surface of the tire with the RFID tag attached is grounded. Even when it is in a state of being read, it is possible to read and write information on the RFID tag attached to the tire, and the read / write performance of the RFID tag can be greatly improved.

The RFID tag 1 may be attached (attached or fixed) to the back surface of the tread portion 3 before or after vulcanization.
The tire to which the RFID tag 1 is attached may be either a radial tire or a bias tire. The type of tire does not matter.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,11 RFID tag 1a, 11a IC chip 1b, 11b Antenna 2,12 Pneumatic tire 3 Tread part 3a Grounding end 4 Side wall part 5 Bead part 6 Carcass 7 RFID reader / writer 15 CPU
16 Memory (ROM)
17 Memory 18 Transceiver unit

Claims (2)

In a pneumatic tire fitted with a non-contact type information recording / reproducing device that inputs and outputs information by a reading / writing device by radio waves,
The information recording / reproducing device is arranged so that the longitudinal direction thereof is the tire axial direction, and the antenna of the information recording / reproducing device extends across the tire ground contact surface and extends to at least one of the ground contact ends. Pneumatic tire characterized by.   2. The pneumatic tire according to claim 1, wherein an antenna of the information recording / reproducing apparatus extends over the tire grounding surface and extends to both ends of both grounding ends.

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