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Have you heard ultrasonic tire gauge?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by AllenZ, Aug 31, 2014.

  1. AllenZ

    AllenZ Active Member

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    Are there any tire gauge that beams a sound wave and detect the bouncing wave characters of the tire to measure the pressure? From physics point of view, it should work somehow. Anything available on market?

    I am tired of checking the tire pressure, especially remove and install the cap during winter time.
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    idk, but it's a great idea. we need hoseless filling too!(y)
     
  3. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Haven't you seen Demolition Man where a character, I think Simon Phoenix, says "auto inflate" when he gets a flat tire? :D

    SCH-I535
     
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    love it.:cool:
     
  5. AllenZ

    AllenZ Active Member

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    It's technically possible too. Imagine a built in compressed air container in ring shape, mount inside tire, and remotely controlled on MFD based on preset pressure. A small battery can drive a needle valve to release air.

    The only problem I can think of, is when the compressed air half used, the whole wheel may off balance. I had this problem when I overfilled tire sealer, causing the tire off balance above 60mph.
     
  6. KennyGS

    KennyGS Senior Member

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    Invent it.
     
  7. kbeck

    kbeck Active Member

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    Reminds of me trying to build a really accurate gas gauge system. Anybody who can build one to 1% will have the world beating a path to their door.

    In any case: problem is in the variation of the stiffness of the sidewall material. Yeah, that varies with air pressure - but it would likely also vary based upon the amount of tread left on the outside surface of the tire, and, of course, with different manufacturers.

    Now, if one had some kind of membrane that could freely vibrate mounted inside the tire that reacted to sound waves and would vibrate back and forth... But then one is talking about something like TPMS, and TPMS is probably simpler.

    Sorry 'bout that.

    KBeck
     
  8. Okinawa

    Okinawa Senior Member

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    I'll drink to that.
     
  9. vvillovv

    vvillovv Senior Member

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    we'd all be blowing up our tires ( big bada boom ) so we could get better mpgs
     
  10. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    There is something called ultrasonic leak detection...not for tires as far as I know

    If you don't feel like checking figure 1 psia loss every 2 months and 1 psia loss every drop of 10 deg F ambient temp
     
  11. AllenZ

    AllenZ Active Member

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    Wikipedia said:
    In the United States, as of 2008 and the European Union, as of November 1, 2012, all new passenger car models (M1) released must be equipped with a TPMS.

    I never heard that ALL 2008 Prius has TPMS. I have a 2010 Prius, never found that feature on it.
     
  12. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i thought they were all equipped, but i don't know the starting date. did you check your manual?
     
  13. AllenZ

    AllenZ Active Member

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    Looks like from this video the 2010 has it.


    I'll have to check the manual tomorrow.
     
  14. Phil Wheeler

    Phil Wheeler Junior Member

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    Didn't Lauren Bacall describe how to do that? :)
     
  15. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i sure hope so!;)
     
  16. ny_rob

    ny_rob Senior Member

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  17. chrisj428

    chrisj428 Active Member

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    MULTIPASS! Love it!

    As to the "hoseless" filling system, I think the Prius' arch-nemesis has it: Self-Inflating Tires

    You can start on Page 3 to see a diagram of the system.
     
  18. kbeck

    kbeck Active Member

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    You've got it. Look at your dash when you turn the power on and all the icons light up. One of the icons looks like a cross-section of a tire with an exclamation point in it, on the right somewhere. I've got a 2010 and I've got it; so does my wife's 2008 Sienna minivan.

    There's a reset button for the TPMS under the driver's dash somewhere. When all the tires are inflated to their correct value you're supposed to hit that button, after which a 20% or so decrease in tire pressure will make the icon light up. If one of the TPMS sensors (in the tires) or the TPMS system itself (receivers located in each wheel well and the associated electronics and computer) fails, the icon lights up and blinks.

    Both the Prius and the Sienna have had that light come on. In the Prius's case this happened when I ran over a knurled bolt on a local road which did a puncture straight through the tread. On the Sienna it's happened twice: First on a long-distance trip when the tire on the front right picked up a cut on a sidewall somehow, second when the front left picked up a nail a couple years later. In all three cases this meant that my wife or I didn't have to recover the car from a sudden flat whilst driving along at speed which can, well, be deadly. Instead, one pulls over at the first opportunity, identifies the flat, puts on the spare, and starts looking for either a service station for the flat repair (2 X) or a tire shop for a new tire, or set thereof (1X).

    Some TPMS systems are reputed to display the actual tire pressure through some means. I've got a 2010 III which doesn't have that feature; I don't know if the Priuses with nav have that or not. But the idiot light version is good enough to hold off a crash and has probably saved a fair number of lives.

    KBeck.