Optimal control to modelling motorcycle rider steering: local versus global coordinate systems in rider preview

The response of a motorcycle is heavily dependent on the rider’s control actions, and consequently a means of replicating the rider’s behaviour provides an important extension to motorcycle dynamics. The primary objective here is to develop effective path-following simulations and to understand how riders control motorcycles. Optimal control theory is applied to the tracking of roadway by a motorcycle, using a non-linear motorcycle model operating in free control by steering torque input. A path-following controller with road preview is designed by minimising tracking errors and control effort. Tight controls with high weightings on performance and loose controls with high weightings on control power are defined. Special attention is paid to the modelling of multipoint preview in local and global coordinate systems. The controller model is simulated over a standard single lane-change manoeuvre. It is argued that the local coordinates point of view is more representative of the way that a human rider operates and interprets information. The simulations suggest that for accurate path following, using optimal control, the problem must be solved by the local coordinates approach in order to achieve accurate results with short preview horizons. Furthermore, some weaknesses of the optimal control approach are highlighted here.     

双冷却系统在跨骑式正三轮摩托车上的应用

跨骑式正三轮摩托车在连续工作的环境下,发动机和制功鼓随着工作时间的增加会转化出大量的热能。为了使其能够保持最佳的工作状态,增加双冷却系统,从而大大延长了车辆连续使用的时间。发动机是摩托车的核心部件,为了避免发动机过热,燃烧室周围的零部件(缸套、缸盖、气门等)必须进行适当的冷却,目前正三轮摩托车发动机主要配备水冷式冷却装置。新式双冷却系统通过副水箱将发动机冷却系统与后制动鼓冷却系统整合为一体,以优化发动机与制劝元件的冷却系统。     

大阳摩托车三相电气系统的设计

随着摩托车电控、照明及信号等系统性能要求的提高,对整车电气系统的功率要求也相应提高。本文介绍的自行研制的大阳系列大排量骑式车、踏板车、电喷车电源供电系统均由大功率三相磁电机、三相全波调压整流器、免维护大容量蓄电池等组成,能确保整车用电系统电力更充足,电起动、照明和信号等系统工作更可靠。     

A Modular Computer Model for the Design of Vehicle Dynamics Control Systems1

SUMMARY

This paper describes a multiport approach to computer-aided modeling of vehicle dynamics. The modeling approach produces models that are suitable for the interactive design and evaluation of complex control strategies. The vehicle model which can be used for ride and handling analysis, is built from modular components. The components are programmed using the syntax of the computer aided control system design (CACSD) program EASYS. Seven modeling components are used to create a three-dimensional vehicle dvnamics model. The model is flexible enoug-h to simulate any suspension design with revolute joints.

Each component of the model consists of a FORTRAN subroutine and a main calling module called a macro. To simplify the process of model building, the modeling components in the car model are designed to represent physical elements, such as the spring, damper, link or tire. To create a model, the components, which are represented by blocks, are interconnected through points, located on the blocks, called pons. These ports have been designed to simulate the location of the connection points between the physical elements, as observed in real systems. The construction of multibody models within a CACSD program offers the flexibility of simultaneous interactive simulation of the three-dimensional dvnamics and evaluation of the desien of the controls.

Although modeling of multibody systems using FORTRAN components has been pioneered by Chace, Haug and Orlandea; and bond graph modeling of multibody systems has been investigated by Bos, this approach is novel because:-

The model is included in the control system design program (EASYS). This arrangement allows the designer to exploit the advanced control design tools available in the program. Furthermore, this approach significantly reduces the computation time required for running the model after parameters modification.

The model is built from components that are interconnected by ports which represent the actual physical location of the connection points between the elements. The multiport approach simplifies the model building process for multibody systems. This simplification is achieved by reducing the model of a multibody system to a block diagram form.     

A Modular Computer Model for the Design of Vehicle Dynamics Control Systems1

This paper describes a multiport approach to computer-aided modeling of vehicle dynamics. The modeling approach produces models that are suitable for the interactive design and evaluation of complex control strategies. The vehicle model which can be used for ride and handling analysis, is built from modular components. The components are programmed using the syntax of the computer aided control system design (CACSD) program EASYS. Seven modeling components are used to create a three-dimensional vehicle dvnamics model. The model is flexible enoug-h to simulate any suspension design with revolute joints.

Each component of the model consists of a FORTRAN subroutine and a main calling module called a macro. To simplify the process of model building, the modeling components in the car model are designed to represent physical elements, such as the spring, damper, link or tire. To create a model, the components, which are represented by blocks, are interconnected through points, located on the blocks, called pons. These ports have been designed to simulate the location of the connection points between the physical elements, as observed in real systems. The construction of multibody models within a CACSD program offers the flexibility of simultaneous interactive simulation of the three-dimensional dvnamics and evaluation of the desien of the controls.

Although modeling of multibody systems using FORTRAN components has been pioneered by Chace, Haug and Orlandea; and bond graph modeling of multibody systems has been investigated by Bos, this approach is novel because:-

The model is included in the control system design program (EASYS). This arrangement allows the designer to exploit the advanced control design tools available in the program. Furthermore, this approach significantly reduces the computation time required for running the model after parameters modification.

The model is built from components that are interconnected by ports which represent the actual physical location of the connection points between the elements. The multiport approach simplifies the model building process for multibody systems. This simplification is achieved by reducing the model of a multibody system to a block diagram form.     

摩托车及轻便摩托车灯光标准浅析

全球现在主要的灯光标准体系共2种,分别为北美标准体系和欧洲体系.摩托车灯光装置主要有前照灯及光信号装置,前照灯主要起为骑乘者提供足够照明的作用,其它信号装置主要起为道路和其它车辆提供警示及信号传递的作用,灯具的设计及安装均是以这些作用作为设计原则的.     

桥梁协同设计系统异构数据库集成

为了保障桥梁协同设计群体间的数据交流,基于现有的关系数据库,引入代理技术,提出了一种基于代理的异构数据库系统集成模型。研究了桥梁异构数据库中的数据表达模型、全局代理与局部代理设计方法。提出了SQL运算与SQL定性扩展语句,完成了对传统关系数据库中SQL语句的扩展,实现了全局代理中的语言解析;应用基于角色控制策略实现了桥梁协同设计环境下的用户管理;提出了包含知识匹配、几何推理、公式推理和约减推理在内的自动推理策略,并以大跨度桥梁抗震设计性能目标为例,对自动推理中约减推理模块的实现过程进行了模拟。结果表明,提出的异构数据库集成模型应用于桥梁协同设计时能够有效的实现群体间的数据交换,并且能够保证数据传输的结果可靠性。     

提升正立式结构摩托车前减震器装配一次合格率的探讨

减震器是摩托车中仅次于发动机的关键部件，其示功特性与前弹簧共同作用直接影响摩托车的减振效果和舒适性。受国内零部件加工尺寸离散率较大的影响，导致产品装配一次合格率仅为80％左右。通过采取一系列相应措施，并对供应商进行指导和提升，确保了配套件的产品质量，逐步修订了关键尺寸的公差范围，提高了减震器的一次装配合格率。     

ATOS光学测量系统与三坐标测量仪在摩托车整车开发中的应用研究（1）

JC110—19A摩托车整车逆向工程充分利用了ATOS光学测量系统和三坐标测量仪的各自优点,对摩托车整车覆盖件进行数据采集,极大地提高了数据采集速度和摩托车整体数据精度,更有利于下游的CAD数据建模,减少设计过程中的反复修改和协调时间,缩短了整车的开发周期。不使用ATOS系统对摩托车整车数据采集需要1个多月的时间,而使用ATOS系统仅需要1周左右时间,同时可节约设计中的协调时间近1个月,共计缩短摩托车整车开发时间2～3个月,大大提高了新品上市周期,提高了产品开发工作效率。     

摩托车发动机电控系统硬件技术研究

以CG125摩托车用汽油发动机156FMI作为样机,提出了满足欧Ⅲ排放标准的摩托车发动机电控系统的设计原则与总体技术方案。对电控系统的转速和负荷测量方案进行了设计,对转速信号轮、节气门体、氧传感器、喷油器等主要零部件的工作原理、选型、安装设计等方面进行了详细叙述。发动机性能试验结果表明所开发的电控发动机的动力性与经济性均优于原化油器式发动机,整车排放满足欧Ⅲ排放标准要求。     

Handling Analysis of a Motorcycle with Added Cambering of the Front Frame

Through linear analysis, the handling characteristics of the motorcycle with fixed control of added cambering of front frame are investigated under the variation of fixed and free controls of steering axis. The cornering responses and stability characteristics of the motorcycle are presented with the aid of the handling diagram. From numerical results for a typical motorcycle, it is found that the influence of the cambering of front frame on the cornering response of fixed steering control is opposite to that of free steering control. Moreover, the design philosophy of a so-called semi-direct steering mechanism, which cambers the front frame for cornering, is studied.     

Steering control of motorcycles using steer-by-wire system

This study proposes a steering control method to improve motorcycle handling and stability. Steer-by-wire (SBW) technology is applied to the motorcycle's steering system to remove characteristic difficulties of vehicle maneuvers. By examining computer simulation using a simplified motorcycle model, the actual rolling angle of the SBW motorcycle is controlled to follow the desired rolling angle intended by the rider. A state feedback control such as linear quadratic control gives the SBW vehicle a good follow-through performance compared with proportional-derivative control because it can decouple rolling motion from the other motions, which affect the rolling motion in the strongly coupled motorcycle system.     

Engine mount optimisation for vibration isolation in motorcycles

This paper presents a comprehensive model to capture the in-plane dynamics of a motorcycle system to evaluate the quality of its vibration isolation, and the design of an engine mount system. The model consists of two main structural components, the frame and the swing-arm, as well as the power-train assembly, engine mounts connecting the power-train to the frame, and the front-end assembly. The model accounts for frame and swing-arm flexibility using reduced order finite-element models. The power-train assembly is modelled as a rigid body connected to the frame through the engine mounts and to the swing-arm through a shaft assembly. The engine mounts are modelled as tri-axial spring-damper systems, and the front-end assembly is modelled as a lumped mass. The complete vehicle model is used to solve the engine mount optimisation problem, so as to minimise the total force transmitted to the frame while meeting packaging and other constraints. The mount system parameters – stiffness, position and orientation vectors – are used as design variables for the optimisation problem. The imposed loads include forces and moments due to engine imbalance as well as loads transmitted due to high amplitude, low frequency bump loads, through the tyre patch. Since packaging constraints play a significant role in a motorcycle layout, it is, therefore, important to determine the displacement envelope of the power-train under extreme loading conditions to ensure clearance with other components around the power-train. A motorcycle mount system should ideally be able to isolate the frame under steady-state loading conditions and at the same time limit the maximum excursion of the power-train under transient loading conditions.     

Handling Analysis of a Motorcycle with Added Cambering of the Front Frame

SUMMARY

Through linear analysis, the handling characteristics of the motorcycle with fixed control of added cambering of front frame are investigated under the variation of fixed and free controls of steering axis. The cornering responses and stability characteristics of the motorcycle are presented with the aid of the handling diagram. From numerical results for a typical motorcycle, it is found that the influence of the cambering of front frame on the cornering response of fixed steering control is opposite to that of free steering control. Moreover, the design philosophy of a so-called semi-direct steering mechanism, which cambers the front frame for cornering, is studied.     

Using machine leaning techniques for evaluation of motorcycle injury severity

There is a growing interest in the application of the machine learning techniques in predicting the motorcycle crash severity. This is partly due to a progress in autonomous vehicles technology, and machine learning technique, which as a main component of autonomous vehicle could be implemented for traffic safety enhancement. Wyoming's motorcycle crash fatalities constitute a concern since the count of riders being killed in motorcycle crashes in 2014 was 11% of the total road fatalities in the state. The first step of crash reduction could be achieved through identification of contributory factors to crashes. This could be accomplished by using a right model with high accuracy in predicting crashes. Thus, this study adopted random forest, support vector machine, multivariate adaptive regression splines and binary logistic regression techniques to predict the injury severity outcomes of motorcycle crashes. Even though researchers applied all the aforementioned techniques to model motorcycle injury severities, a comparative analysis to assess the predictive power of such modeling frameworks is limited. Hence, this study contributes to the road safety literature by comparing the performance of the discussed techniques. In this study, Wyoming's motorcycle crash injury severities are modeled as functions of the characteristics that give rise to crashes. Before conducting any analyses, feature reduction was used to identify a best number of predictors to be included in the model. Also to have an unbiased estimation of the performance of different machine learning techniques, 5-fold cross-validation was used for model performance evaluation. Two measure, Area under the curve (AUC), and confusion matrix were used to compare different models' performance. The machine learning results indicate that random forest model outperformed the other models with the least misclassification and higher AUC. It was also revealed that a dichotomous response variable, with fatality and incapacitation injury in one category, along with all other categories in another group would result in a lower misclassification rate than a polychotomous response variable. This might result from the nature of motorcycle crashes, lacking a protection compared with passenger cars, preventing machine learning technique to get trained properly. Moreover, the most important variables identified by the random forest model are those related to the operating speed, resentful other party, traffic volume, truck traffic volume, riding under the influence, horizontal curvature, wide roadway with more than two lanes and rider's age.     

Steady Turning of Two-Wheeled Vehicles

When driving along a circular path, the driver of a motorcycle controls the vehicle mainly by means of steering torque. If low steering torque is necessary, the driver feels that the vehicle is manoeuvrable. In this paper, a mathematical model concerning steering torque is developed; it takes into account the actual kinematic behaviour of the vehicle and the properties of motorcycle tyres. Tyre forces act at the contact points of toroidal tyres, which are calculated according to kinematic analysis. Non-linear equations are solved using an iterative approach. Several numerical results are presented, and the influence of tyre properties and some geometrical and inertial properties of the vehicle on steering torque are discussed.     

Travel time statistical modeling with the Halphen distribution family

ABSTRACT

This article introduces the Halphen distribution family for modeling travel time distributions and their reliability on single road links. This probability family originally used in hydrology has a set of relevant characteristics. It is composed of three probability distribution functions for which the mathematical properties are described here. The article uses a graphical representation, the δ-Moment Ratio Diagram (δ-MRD). This tool allows characterizing travel time reliability as well as selecting best distribution candidates within the fitting processes, by considering empirical data sets. A systematic methodology is developed to take advantage of both aspects. From maximum log-likelihood estimation, it is shown that Halphen distributions are among the best state-of-the-art solutions for the travel time modeling purpose. This global framework is validated using two empirical data sets: an urban data set gathered in Portland, Oregon (USA), and a periurban data set from Lyon (France). The model calibration is eased through the use of the δ-MRD; this property opens new research directions about the mapping between traffic states and statistical modeling. It comes from all these considerations that the Halphen family is suitable to describe accurately the travel time dynamics on single links. Therefore, it could be part of a decision support system for practitioners interested in travel time variability.     

Steady Turning of Two-Wheeled Vehicles

When driving along a circular path, the driver of a motorcycle controls the vehicle mainly by means of steering torque. If low steering torque is necessary, the driver feels that the vehicle is manoeuvrable. In this paper, a mathematical model concerning steering torque is developed; it takes into account the actual kinematic behaviour of the vehicle and the properties of motorcycle tyres. Tyre forces act at the contact points of toroidal tyres, which are calculated according to kinematic analysis. Non-linear equations are solved using an iterative approach. Several numerical results are presented, and the influence of tyre properties and some geometrical and inertial properties of the vehicle on steering torque are discussed.     

The lateral stability of train suspension systems employing inerters

This paper investigates the benefits of lateral stability of train suspension systems employing a newly developed mechanical network element known as an inerter. An inerter was proposed as an ideal mechanical two-port element to substitute for the mass element in the mechanical/electrical analogy. As of now, inerters have been successfully applied to car and motorcycle suspension systems, for which significant performance benefits were reported. This paper discusses the improvements on lateral stability of train suspension systems employing inerters. The study was carried out in three parts. First, an existing 12 degrees-of-freedom (DOF) train model was built and verified by a multi-body-builder, AutoSim^TM. Second, inerters were applied to the train suspension system to increase the critical speed. Finally, the discussion was extended to a 16-DOF model to demonstrate the performance improvement by inerters. From the results, inerters were deemed effective in improving the lateral stability of train suspension systems.     

Road characteristics and environment factors associated with motorcycle fatal crashes in Malaysia

This study aims to determine risk factors contributing to traffic crashes in 9,176 fatal cases involving motorcycle in Malaysia between 2010 and 2012. For this purpose, both multinomial and mixed models of motorcycle fatal crash outcome based on the number of vehicle involved are estimated. The corresponding model predicts the probability of three fatal crash outcomes: motorcycle single-vehicle fatal crash, motorcycle fatal crash involving another vehicle and motorcycle fatal crash involving two or more vehicles. Several road characteristic and environmental factors are considered including type of road in the hierarchy, location, road geometry, posted speed limit, road marking type, lighting, time of day and weather conditions during the fatal crash. The estimation results suggest that curve road sections, no road marking, smooth, rut and corrugation of road surface and wee hours, i.e. between 00.00 am to 6 am, increase the probability of motorcycle single-vehicle fatal crashes. As for the motorcycle fatal crashes involving multiple vehicles, factors such as expressway, primary and secondary roads, speed limit more than 70 km/h, roads with non-permissible marking, i.e. double lane line and daylight condition are found to cause an increase the probability of their occurrence. The estimation results also suggest that time of day (between 7 pm to 12 pm) has an increasing impact on the probability of motorcycle single-vehicle fatal crashes and motorcycle fatal crashes involving two or more vehicles. Whilst the multinomial logit model was found as more parsimonious, the mixed logit model is likely to capture the unobserved heterogeneity in fatal motorcycle crashes based on the number of vehicles involved due to the underreporting data with two random effect parameters including 70 km/h speed limit and double lane line road marking.