Gyroscopic stabilisers for powered two-wheeled vehicles

ABSTRACT

This paper illustrates the potential of a gyroscopic stabiliser for the stabilisation of single-track vehicles, at low and high speed as well as during braking. Alternative systems are considered, including single and twin counter-rotating gyroscopes, spinning and precessing with respect to different axes, either freely (passive stabilisers) or in a controlled way (active stabilisers). A suitable mathematical model has been developed and stability has been investigated both by eigenvalue calculation and time domain simulations. It has been found that the most effective configuration is one where the gyroscope(s) spin with respect to an axis parallel to the wheels' spin axis and swing with respect to the vehicle yaw axis. Passive systems may effectively stabilise both weave and wobble at medium and high speed, but cannot stabilise the vehicle at low and zero speed. On the contrary, actively controlled gyroscopes are capable of stabilising the vehicle in its whole range of operating speed, as well as during braking. The alteration of the original vehicle handling characteristics is negligible when active counter-rotating gyroscopes are used, and still acceptable if a single gyroscope is adopted instead.