Tyre-pressure monitoring system saves major vehicle downtime

The foresight to fit their Terex TS40 motor scraper with a tyre-pressure monitoring system (TMS) as part of a tyre-management programme with Wakefield-based Earthmover Tyres, saved Ferrybridge Power Station both expense and downtime when a wheel bearing on one machine overheated. The alarm built into the TMS in the driver's cab sounded and Earth Mover Tyres were called out.

The tyre pressure data was downloaded from the TMS unit and this showed that the air temperature in the tyre was reaching the predetermined threshold set on the unit, which triggered the alarm. All known possible problems that could cause a cab alarm were then checked, but no defect could be found with the tyre or the system. When the vehicle was used again, however, the TMS triggered the alarm again. After much deliberating it was suggested that the problem could be something other than the tyre.



The cause, it transpired, was a faulty wheel bearing that had caused the tyre to heat and, because the wheel rims on the vehicle are part of the hub, the heat from the wheel bearing was transferred to the hub/rim, which then caused the air temperature inside the tyre to heat up and set off the TMS alarm.



The TMS used by Earthmover Tyres was supplied by AM Bromley of Buxton, Derbyshire, and is specifically designed for use in OTR tyres. Because it sits inside the tyre rather than attaching to a valve it is able to do more than just monitor the pressure within a tyre and, as in this case, provide data that could save the operator a lot of time and money.