Goodyear to Begin Fleet Testing of Air Maintenance Technology for Commercial Vehicles
It’s called Air Maintenance Technology and uses a peristaltic pump to automatically keep the tire’s pressure at the right parameters.
A peristaltic pump is a displacement pump where fluid is contained within a flexible tube fitted inside a circular pump casing. A rotor containing rollers, shoes or wipers compresses the flexible tube as it's turning, forcing the fluid to be moved through the tube.
Sounds complicated, but in fact the system is very easy to understand and the only high-tech components required for it to work in this case are two valves and an internal regulator. The latter constantly reads the pressure and in case it drops, it will allow air to flow into the pumping tube, which is a thin torus (donut) mounted between the tire and the rim in a special cavity. From here, the tire roll will gradually deform the tube, compressing air and pushing it through another valve into the tire itself. When the right pressure is reached, the regulator tells the first valve to close and that’s it.