Wheels are turnin’
Sensor-based device measures tire tread wear automatically to boost highway safety.
When technicians conduct vehicle safety inspections, one of the things they look at is “tread wear,” which alerts them to tires that have grown dangerously thin. But using a manual gauge to assess the condition of 18 truck tires can be a time-consuming endeavor.
A Durham, North Carolina-based tech startup says it has come up with a better way to do the job. The company, Tyrata, has created a system that collects tire tread-wear data automatically when a vehicle drives over a speedbump-like unit (above).
The firm says it developed its IntelliTread Drive-Over System (DOS) to address the need for low-cost, easy-to-deploy tire-tread monitoring in both passenger and commercial vehicle fleets. Data collected by the device is automatically sent to Tyrata.io, an analytics platform that notifies service and depot managers of the actual condition of their tires in real time.
Created through a collaboration with Duke University, the firm’s IntelliTread technology uses carbon nanotubes to create tire sensors that measure rubber thickness with small electric pulses. Although it may sound high-tech, the developer says the DOS is easy to use. Customers can be up and running within a few hours of deployment, with no hardware cost and no impact on fleet operations, Tyrata says.