Piezoelectric Devices for Motion Detection in Direct Tire Pressure Monitoring

Current direct tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) may require some form of motion sensing. This is used to alter operating strategies in order to save battery consumption and/or detect whether an under inflated tire is mounted in the spare location. These motion sensors are usually electro-mechanical switches or MEMS accelerometers which may have reliability and/or power consumption drawbacks. This paper will present how a piezoelectric transducer can be used for this purpose and it advantages in ruggedness, power consumption and cost for TPMS.