15 Million Tire Pressure Monitoring Sensors Means More Safety on the Roads

Recently Baolong and NXP celebrated a significant milestone: 15 million sensors for tire pressure monitoring have rolled off the production line as a result of our close collaboration that started in 2004.

Tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) warn drivers of any abnormal pressure conditions in the tire, which alerts the driver to adjust the pressure for improved handling and control of the car, as well as increased overall fuel efficiency. Many countries require TPMS technology be included on new cars sold.

Long-term collaboration
Collaboration between Baolong and NXP has focused on software and algorithms, to develop and validate algorithms that identify which wheel each sensor is attached as well as being power efficient.

The close collaboration began in 2004 with the purpose of developing reliable, high-quality and high-performance TPMS solutions. These solutions have been widely adopted by car manufacturers in China, North America and in Europe – where all cars are equipped with a tire pressure monitoring system. Baolong is now recognized as a global industry leader because of its creative designs.

What’s inside TPMS modules
NXP’s TPMS modules combine precise pressure and motion sensors with a microcontroller and wireless communication links to provide accurate tire locating and optimal tire pressure monitoring from within the car, matching current market needs for highly integrated solutions.

NXP has a long and rich history with TPMS. Starting from a multi-chip solution, NXP has quickly moved to a single package solution for ease of use and space saving. This is particularly important for TPMS as modules need to have a small form factor to be able to fit inside the rim of the tire, be attached to the stem or be embedded directly inside the tire itself.  The FXTH87 family of TPMS has already been adopted by car manufacturers around the world and is praised for its superior quality and reliability in the field. The latest products of this generation are designed to increase battery life by at least 30% and provide three levels of pressure rating including a dedicated 1,500kPa very high-pressure solution for trucks, buses and special industrial vehicles. These products go through rigorous stress tests to demonstrate that they can be reliably used in a tire-mount configuration. This is when the sensor is submitted to a series of shocks at tire revolution due to direct contact with the road.

TPMS Market Projection
An exploding opportunity in China

Looking to the future, we will continue to develop innovative TPMS sensors to support customers like Baolong to further reduce size and weight while increasing functionality and performance. Beyond TPMS mandates, there are new emerging requirements which will support the concept of autonomous mobility. Our concepts already look at how to develop for the types of requirements that go hand in hand with autonomous mobility, such as continuous sensing of a road surface for optimized braking strategies, monitoring of the tire state of health to prevent delamination or contact patch measurement for improved traction control.