Low-Cost Throttle-By-Wire-System Architecture For Two-Wheeler Vehicles
Jannis Kreß, Jens Rau, Hektor Hebert, Fernando Perez-Peña, Karsten Schmidt, Arturo Morgado-Estévez
TL;DR
The paper addresses ecological and safety limits of scooters by proposing a low-cost throttle-by-wire system (TbWS) built from a contactless AMR throttle position sensor (TPS) and a Hall-effect throttle valve actuator (TVA) driven by a PI controller, with CAN bus communication and integrated fail-safes. It details hardware architecture, calibration, and software strategies to achieve about $1\%$ throttle-travel accuracy and $200\,\text{ms}$ settling, validated in Hardware-in-the-Loop and on a Peugeot Kisbee 50 4T Euro 5, achieving sensor accuracy $<0.16\%$ and actuator accuracy $<0.37\%$, with overall TbWS error $<0.63\%$ and ~60 ms response. The work demonstrates a feasible retrofit approach with prototype costs around €140 and potential mass-production costs near €15 per system, enabling ADAS and emissions reductions for scooters. These results indicate that a low-cost TbWS can significantly broaden adoption of electronic throttle control in small motorcycles, contributing to fuel efficiency and cleaner exhaust while maintaining safety through redundancy and fault-detection.
Abstract
This paper investigates the performance of a lowcost Throttle-by-Wire-System (TbWS) for two-wheeler applications. Mopeds/scooters are still restricted environmentally harmful. Throttle-by-Wire-Systems can contribute to environmental protection by replacing conventional restrictors. Its consisting of an anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) throttle position sensor and a position controlled stepper motor driven throttle valve actuator. The decentralized throttle position sensor is operating contactless and acquires redundant data. Throttle valve actuation is realized through a position controlled stepper motor, sensing its position feedback by Hall effect. Using a PI-controller, the stepper motors position is precisely set. Both units are transceiving data by a CAN bus. Furthermore, fail-safe functions, plausibility checks, calibration algorithms and energy saving modes have been implemented. Both modules have been evaluated by Hardware-in-the-Loop testing in terms of reliability and measuring/positioning performance before the system was integrated into a Peugeot Kisbee 50 4T (Euro 5/injected). Finally, the sensor unit comes with a measurement deviation of less than 0.16% whereas the actuator unit can approach throttle valve positions with a deviation of less than 0.37%. The actuators settling time does not exceed 0.13s while stable, step-loss free and noiseless operation.