Patent ID: 8567260

Claim:
A sensor equipped wheel support bearing assembly for rotatably supporting a vehicle wheel relative to a vehicle body structure, which comprises: an outer member having an inner periphery formed with double row rolling surfaces; an inner member having an outer periphery formed with rolling surfaces held in face-to-face relation with the rolling surfaces of the outer member; and double row rolling elements interposed between the respective rolling surfaces in the outer and inner members, in which one of the inner and outer members, which serves as a stationary member, has an outer diametric surface provided with at least three or more sensor units, in which each of the sensor units includes a strain generating member, having two or more contact fixing segments fixed to the outer diametric surface of the stationary member in contact with such outer diametric surface, and one or more strain sensors fitted to the strain generating member for detecting a strain occurring in the strain generating member, in which a load estimating section is provided for estimating a radial load, acting in a direction radially of the wheel support bearing assembly, and an axial load, acting in a direction axially of the wheel support bearing assembly, from respective output signals of the sensors of the three or more sensor units, in which an output signal separator is provided for separating the output signal of each of the sensor units into a direct current component and an alternating current component and then inputting them to the load estimating section, and in which the load estimating section is operable to estimate a load in various directions from a linear equation, in which using amplitude values of the direct and alternating current components as variables, those variables are multiplied by a correction coefficient determined for each of the loads in the various directions that are estimated for each of the variables.