ROME – Falken Tire’s parent company, Sumitomo Rubber Industries (Sri), has developed a technology that generates electricity from tire rotation and supplies it to peripheral sensors. This further refinement of the “Tire Internal Power Generation Technology“, developed in collaboration with Professor Hiroshi Tani of the Japanese University of Kansai, represents a significant step forward towards the achievement of the Sensing Core Technology applications, which will be decisive for the future trends of the mobility.
The fundamental discovery of SRI technology for the generation of energy inside the tire was achieved thanks to the addition of a recharging function of the “accumulator, located inside the tire. The static electricity generated during the rotation of the tire is stored and used to charge an energy control circuit, which in turn activates and powers an external sensor. The structures and materials involved in the collection of frictional energy have also been optimized to greatly improve the power generated. Verification tests carried out by SRI researchers showed that when a tire rotates at a speed of 50 km / h, the system produces enough energy to activate an external sensor without the use of batteries and to enable continuous Bluetooth Low Energy transmission (Ble).
“Until now, the limited battery life of the device sensors has been one of the biggest obstacles to making tire sensing technology a reality – explains Bernd Löwenhaupt, CEO of Sumitomo Rubber Europe – This development is therefore important for Sensing. Sri’s overall Core Technology, which has enormous potential for future applications such as self-driving vehicles ”.
Sumitomo Rubber Industries is actively engaged in wide-ranging research and development of its Smart Tire Concept, of which Sensing Core Technology is a key component to ensure the overall safety of mobility operations, significantly reducing maintenance costs. This forward-thinking concept is accelerating the development of tires and peripheral services to meet the demands of Connected, Autonomous, Shared, Electric (Case), Mobility as a Service (MaaS) and other new mobility innovations that are shaping the future of the industry. automotive.
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