Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) - How does they work?

Driving the vehicle doesn't matter; always maintaining matters!

Did you know the fact!!

Almost 95% of sold cars have parked for their entire span. So maintenance lack takes place widely all around and also this makes a heavy impact on safety. Maintenance plays a leading role while concerning the safety and proper functioning of a vehicle. As reported by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), due to tire-related accidents on automobiles, nearly 738 fatalities happen every year.

 

To avert that occurrence, technologically lots of improvements have been made in vehicles, which may help to achieve some safety what we expect. Likewise, one of the considering features in those aspects is a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS).

 

TPMS is a pressure monitoring system adopted in vehicles that monitors the tire pressure electronically using sensors and a control unit for each wheel on various categorized automobiles. TPMS can be parted into two different types which are,

1) Direct TPMS

2) Indirect TPMS

Direct TPMS

Direct TPMS is a sensor-based pressure monitoring system, senses the pressure in each tire internally with the help of individual pressure sensors. This sensor has located at the place of the tire pressure valve of the wheel.  It has integrated with a small electronic circuit and battery that help to send the data about the pressure inside the tire continuously to the control unit through radio signals.

 

When the pressure drops below the recommended level at one or more tires, the vehicle's computer system syncs the data with the preset value, in case it was varied, then it initiates the warning light with an exclamation symbol on the instrument panel for the driver's knowledge to avoid unsafe driving conditions.

Indirect TPMS

Indirect TPMS is also a sensor-based system, but it does not monitor the pressure of the tire. Instead, it monitors the speed of the tire. What???

 

Absolutely yes, using the ABS wheel speed sensors, the control unit calculates the speed of individual tires and syncs all the data together. If the speed of wheels is equal, the system considers that there is no pressure drop in all the wheels.

Suppose, if any pressure drop occurs, the diameter of the wheel shrinks. This shrinkage affects the wheel speed. The sensors on each tire send the data to the control unit usually. If any speed variance occurs in one or more tires, the control unit reads all the data together and identifies the difference in speed. So the control unit warns the driver via indication light on instrument panel.

 

It is not as sensitive as direct TPMS. The only disadvantage in Indirect TPMS is that if the wheel speed is equal in all tires, the system considers that there is no pressure drop even the pressure in all tires is below/above the recommended level, so it may not assure safety completely. The speed of the wheel wouldn't change if the pressure in all tires are the same. Check the air pressure in tire before starts your car...

                                        DROP A COMMENT IF IT IS INFORMATIVE!