Tesla recently announced a new patent granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: automatic tire inflation system (ATIS), which the company plans to install on its upcoming semi-trailer electric truck Semi, which can adjust tire pressure in real time.
Below is the complete patent application diagram:
Many military vehicles and heavy trucks use ATIS to manage tire pressure and optimize driving on different roads. However, Tesla described the "shortcomings" of the existing system in the original patent application:
Previous solutions had many drawbacks, for some prior art, air is fed through a hollow drive shaft to the end fittings, which are then connected to the air intakes of the tires.
To couple air into the hollow drive shaft, the rotating fitting couples air from the air reservoir to the interior of the hollow shaft. The fitting is therefore susceptible to contaminant leakage that can interfere with the operation of ATIS and ultimately cause ATIS to fail.
To overcome these shortcomings, Tesla has developed a smarter system that includes valves, bearings and rotating air seals.
Tesla wrote in the patent application: According to the first embodiment, Tesla ATIS includes a controller, a valve controlled by the controller, a valve having an air supply inlet and a plurality of air outlets.
Further, for at least one drive shaft having internal and external bearings, ATIS further comprises a channel formed in the mandrel, the first hose fitting connected to the mandrel channel by a valve in the controller control valve, a hub forming channel, a rotating air seal located between the inner and outer bearings, a channel formed in the spindle and a channel formed in the hub coupling, and a second hose forming a channel in the hub connected to more than one wheel.
As a result, Tesla's ATIS significantly reduces contamination in the ATIS airflow compared to existing ATIS systems. Reducing contamination extends ATIS life, spindle life, hub life, wheel/tire service life and longer maintenance intervals.