Pirelli and Schrader to Develop New Tyre “Check-Up” Sensor

Pirelli and Schrader have agreed to join forces to take “intelligent” tyre production a step further. The new system, based on a mini-sensor capable of generating its own power, can for the first time be located within the tyre itself and allows the tyre identification data and its temperature and pressure to be monitored in real time and transmitted to the car and driver.

Schrader took on 100 new staff at its Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland facility at the beginning of April. This move was supported by £3.5 million of funding from Invest NI and brings the total number of staff at the plant to 160.

Pirelli and Schrader have made five international patent applications for the new technology between them. The new technology allows the principal tyre identification data such as its size and the type of summer or winter tread and other information such as the tyre temperature and pressure and the eventual residual flat running distance to be monitored and transferred to the car and driver in real time.

The new sensor allows the tyre to interact with the car, enabling the parameters of the on-board electronic systems to adapt to the information received. The system, produced ad hoc for original equipment applications, is said to be particularly suitable for run-flat tyres because of its ability to measure the distance and conditions in which the tyre has been driven on in its flat state.

The sensor developed by Pirelli and Schrader Electronics is also an economic and technologically advanced alternative to the “onboard” direct electronic tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) currently available on the market.

The agreement with Schrader Electronics, follows Pirelli’s announcement that it has reinforced its technological development activities in the field of tyre sensor systems following last year’s “technology in revolution” presentation of innovative pressure control system and new devices based on the wheel-tyre assembly capable of interacting with the vehicle’s dynamic control system.

Schrader took on 100 new staff at its Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland facility at the beginning of April. This move was supported by £3.5 million of funding from Invest NI and brings the total number of staff at the plant to 160.

Schrader Electronics, a Tomkins PLC owned company, supplies remote tyre pressure monitoring systems (RTPMS) to most of the main car manufacturers in Europe, Japan and America and describes itself as the world leader in the development and production of tyre pressure and temperature monitoring systems.