TIRE ROLLING RESISTANCE ESTIMATION SYSTEM AND METHOD

A tire rolling resistance estimation system and method is disclosed. The system (10) estimates a real-time rolling resistance coefficient (50) of a tire (12) supporting a vehicle (14). The system (10) includes: a tire sensor unit (26) mounted to the tire (12), the tire sensor unit (26) measuring an inflation pressure of the tire and a temperature of the tire; a processor (40) in electronic communication with the tire sensor unit (26); a steady state coefficient determination module (54) in electronic communication with the processor (40) for receiving a plurality of inputs and for determining a steady state rolling resistance coefficient of the tire; a steady state tire temperature module (90) in electronic communication with the processor (40) for receiving the steady state rolling resistance coefficient of the tire from the steady state coefficient determination module (54) and for estimating a steady state tire temperature of the tire; and a real-time rolling resistance coefficient module (92) in electronic communication with the processor (40), the real-time rolling resistance coefficient (92) module receiving the steady state tire temperature of the tire from the steady state tire temperature module and estimating a real-time rolling resistance coefficient of the tire from the steady state rolling resistance coefficient and a difference between the steady state tire temperature and a current tire temperature from the tire sensor unit (26).