The INTENSE Project

Silent Sensors is an innovative company that designs and creates smart tags and sensors. Our R&D is primarily focused on creating these vital components of the Intelligent Tyre, which itself is designed to provide more cost efficient tyres for commercial vehicles and logistics companies. That focus also allows us to identify ‘spin-off’ products which can be brought to market while all the regulatory and safety constraints of creating the Intelligent Tyre are dealt with.

Energy Harvesting is key to being able to make and supply self-powered strips of tags and sensors that can go ‘behind the dashboard’. Several concurrent projects independently use the piezoelectric and kinetic properties of different materials to generate power and provide data about a tyre’s properties to determine what is the best construct, given each specific tyre’s composition and manufacturing process is unique and will vary.

The INTENSE project aligns with ‘Future of mobility’, one of the Grand Challenges of the UK’s Industrial Strategy

INTENSE will deliver an innovative tyre sensor for large OTR (off-the-road) tyres. Large OTR vehicles operate over rough terrain with high loads and the tyres’ motion generates high temperatures deep within the core rubber of the tyres and large temperature variations within the tyre. Manufacturers install in-tyre temperature sensors, but these only measure air or tyre liner temperatures which do not reflect core rubber temperatures. Overheating may result in only achieving 65% of maximum tyre life. INTENSE is novel because it splits temperature sensing and communications elements and is able to measure temperature deep inside the tyre. Knowing the internal temperature allows for behaviour changes to extend tyre life and in addition to cost benefits, achieves environmental benefits in reducing replacement tyre production.

Silent Sensors’ entire business is focussed on creating advanced technology for monitoring the location, status and performance of commercial tyres and the financial and environmental benefits of doing this. INTENSE will create a new market for embedded tyre sensors which can provide better quality as well as additional tyre-related data. Existing TPMS devices only provide pressure and an indication of temperature, INTENSE will provide accurate data and data such as driving style and tyre stresses and will therefore substitute for existing TPMS systems.

Update September 5th 2023:

Silent Sensors has completed the first five months of the grant and the project is on track. Initial prototypes have been tested and the first manufacturing run is now in progress!