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In recent years, global warming, depletion of fossil fuels, and reducing pollution have become increasingly prominent issues, resulting in demand for environmentally-friendly two-wheeled vehicles capable of reducing CO2 emissions. However, it remains necessary to meet customers’ expectations by providing smaller drivetrains, lighter vehicles, and support for long-distance riding, among other characteristics. In the face of this situation, hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) systems are considered to be the most realistic method for creating environmentally-friendly powertrains and are widely used. This research introduces a hybrid electric two-wheeled vehicle fitted with an electrical variable transmission (EVT) system, a completely new type of electrical transmission that meets the aforementioned needs, achieving enhanced fuel efficiency with a compact drivetrain. The EVT system comprises double rotors installed inside the stator.

Laser powder bed fusion is one of the metal additive manufacturing technologies, so-called 3D printing. It has attracted great attentions due to high geometrical flexibility and remarkable metallurgical characteristics. An oil catch tank has been widely used in automotive industries for filtering oil vapors or carbon sludge from blow-by gas as a conventional usage. A pneumatic valve system mainly adopted to high-performance engines is also a potential application of it because undesirable oil infiltrates into air springs during engine operation, resulting in an excess spring pressure. This work focused on developing a lightweight oil catch tank which can be applied to a pneumatic valve system by taking advantage of additive manufacturing techniques. Al-Mg-Sc alloy powder with high tensile strength as well as high ductility were used under the consideration of specific strength, printability and availability.

In recent years, efforts to reduce CO2 emissions (carbon neutrality) have accelerated worldwide. In the aluminum manufacturing industry, CO2 emissions can be reduced by switching the raw materials of choice; from virgin ingots to recycled ingots. However, the possible characteristic change accompanying the usage of impurity-ridden recycled ingots severely limits its applications, which also limits its potential contribution to carbon neutrality. Determining how impurity elements present in recycled ingots can affect the function of manufactured components is a necessary first step towards expanding the usage of recycled ingots. In this study, we aimed to apply recycled ingots to the monolithic cylinder made of hypereutectic Al-Si alloy and investigated how impurity elements in recycled ingots affect properties (especially seizure characteristic). Die-cast cylinders using virgin and recycled ingots were manufactured and their properties were investigated.

Carburized and quenched materials with high fatigue strength are often used for motorcycle engine parts. Nitrided materials exhibit less deformation during heat treatment than carburized and quenched materials, so if the same or higher fatigue strength can be achieved with nitrided materials as with carburized and quenched materials, the geometric precision of parts can be increased and we can reduce engine noise as well as power loss. When the fatigue strengths of a nitrided material with its compound layer surface put into γ’ phase through nitriding potential control (hereafter, G), and a nitrided material put into ε phase (hereafter, E) were measured, the results showed the fatigue strength of the G to be about 11% higher than that of carburized and quenched materials. It was inferred that the strength of the compound layer determines fatigue strength.

Cycle-to-cycle variation (CCV) of combustion in low load operation is a factor that may cause various problems in engine operation. Variable valve timing and variable ignition timing are commonly used as a means to reduce this variation. However, due to mountability and cost constraints, these methods are not feasible for use in motorcycle engines. Therefore, development of an engine with minimal CCV without utilizing complicated mechanisms or electronic control is required. CCV of combustion may be caused by fluctuations in in-cylinder flow, air-fuel mixture, temperature, residual gas and ignition energy. In this study, the relationship between CCV of combustion, in-cylinder flow fluctuation and air-fuel mixture fluctuation was the primary focus. In order to evaluate in-cylinder flow fluctuation, Time Resolved Particle Image Velocimetry (TR-PIV) technique was utilized.

Recently the response of the engine speed at starting has more importance than ever for quick start satisfying rider’s needs, as well as exhaust emissions. We have developed a simulation for studying engine and starter specifications, engine control algorithm and other engine control parameters. This system can be utilized to realize appropriate starting time by considering air-fuel ratio under various conditions. This paper addresses what are taken account of in our method. Examples applying this to a conventional motorcycle engine are shown.

Reduction in the cycle-to-cycle variation (CCV) of combustion in internal combustion engines is required to reduce fuel consumption, exhaust emissions, and improve drivability. CCV increases at low load operations and lean/dilute burn conditions. Specifically, the factors that cause CCV of combustion are the cyclic variations of in-cylinder flow, in-cylinder distributions of fuel concentration, temperature and residual gas, and ignition energy. However, it is difficult to measure and analyze these factors in a production engine. This study used an optically accessible single-cylinder engine in which combustion and optical measurements were performed for 45 consecutive cycles. CCVs of the combustion and in-cylinder phenomena were investigated for the same cycle. Using this optically accessible engine, the volume inside the combustion chamber, including the pent-roof region can be observed through a quartz cylinder.

A connecting rod made of titanium alloy is effective for lower fuel consumption and higher power output comparing to a steel one because the titanium connecting rod enables to reduce the weight of both of reciprocating and rotating parts in an entire engine substantially. But up to now, it has been adopted only to expensive and small-lot production models because a material cost is high, a processing is difficult and a wear on a sliding area should be prevented. In order to adopt the titanium connecting rods into a more types of motorcycles, appropriate materials, processing methods and surface treatment were considered. Hot forging process was applied not only to reduce a machining volume but also to enhance a material strength and stiffness. And the fracture-splitting (FS) method for the big-end of the titanium connecting rod was put into a practical use.

This paper proposes a novel engine starter system composed of a small-power electric motor and a simple mechanical valve train. The system makes it possible to design more efficient starters than conventional systems, and it is especially effective to restart engines equipped with idling stop systems. Recently, several idling stop systems, having intelligent start-up functions and highly-efficient generate capabilities have been proposed for motorcycles. One of challenges of the idling stop systems is the downsizing of electric motors for starting-up. However, there are many limitations to downsize the electric motors in the conventional idling stop systems, since the systems utilize the forward-rotational torque of the electric motors to compress the air-fuel mixture gas in the cylinders. Our studies exceeded the limitations of downsizing the electric motors by mainly using the engine combustion energy instead of the electric energy to go over the first compression top dead center.

This paper concerns a torque control of a rear wheel of a motorcycle equipped with a rubber/aramid belt electronically-controlled continuous variable transmission where a primary sheave position is controlled by an electric motor. In particular, the paper discusses a method to calculate a required engine torque and a required primary sheave position, given reference values of a rear-wheel torque and an engine rotational velocity. The method forms a foundation of a hierarchized traction control where a higher control layer decides an optimal motorcycle motion (rear-wheel torque and engine rotational velocity) and a lower control layer realizes the motion by actuators (engine torque and primary sheave position). Difficulties of the control are due to large mechanical compliance of the rubber/aramid belt, which leads to an inevitable lag from the primary sheave position to a speed reduction ratio.

This paper describes the development of a new concept two-wheel steering system for realizing motorcycle motion control. By considering the whole of the main frame as the rear-wheel steering axis, it was possible to move the rear-wheel steering system from the conventional installation position at the rear arm to the head pipe. As a result, the developed two-wheel steering system is both lightweight and compact. This two-wheel steering system was installed in a motorcycle, and starting and stopping tests were carried out with two people riding on the motorcycle. The test results confirmed that the two-wheel steering system is capable of changing the motion characteristics of the motorcycle in actual riding. Furthermore, by calculating the equivalent wheel alignment of this system, this paper also theoretically demonstrates that these changes in motion characteristics are caused by changes in caster and trail.

This paper presents an approach for efficiently evaluating motorcycle main frame strength using external loads predicted from measured strain data in our development process. The loads are calculated by simple matrix inversion, and can be used as boundary conditions of static analysis that resembles actual phenomena. The advantage of this method is that it allows relatively precise reproduction of actual boundary conditions without the data usually needed for dynamic simulation such as tire and suspension characteristics which often take large amount of time and man-hour to obtain. Although this approach is simple and common practice, there are a lot of things to be concerned for gaining useful results in a broad range of stages in the motorcycle main frame development process. How we effectively make use of this approach is going to be introduced here.

Recently, there have been many reports about developing control systems that actuate engines and brakes based on friction circle. We are researching the control system for motorcycles, which adds the return torque of throttle grip based on it for informing the limit of tire grip on the driving wheel. This throttle grip is a haptic display, offers haptic signals by controlling the motor connected to the throttle grip as a HMI. From the results of riding tests, the system was found helpful for riders to control the throttle grip as well as feeling easy about knowing the limit of tire grip. But it is known that the friction circle of a driving wheel depends on the normal force which changes by the gradient of road, acceleration and so on. The compensated control for changing the normal force by gradient was made to improve the throttle grip control system.

Generally, the gearshift mechanism for outboard motors shifts into forward or reverse gear without using the synchromesh arrangement (dog clutch engagement)(See Fig.1). This type of shift mechanism has advantages in simple structure and in saving space and cost, but at the same time, this is often the source of problem due to the abrasion caused by the hitting of gear against the dog clutch before the engagement, as well as large gearshift shock and noise. In addition, the outboard motor horsepower is getting bigger in recent years. As they are equipped with bigger and heavier engines and propellers, the shifting shock and noise tend to become more severe. For this reason, the improvement in this aspect is required. We looked into the way to reduce the shock and noise by means of propellers, because the propeller can be mounted and replaced easily, which allows the effective improvement to be spread to the outboard motors already in the market.

We introduce a research on steering dampers using MR fluid (Magnetorheological Fluid). In recent years, steering dampers have been used in on-road and off-road motorcycles. Steering dampers stabilize the front end of motorcycles. The advantage of a steering damper is increased stability, but hydraulic steering dampers give rise to the problem of ‘Heavy Steering’. In order to resolve this heavy steering, we need to set the restrictions on the maximum damping force and avoid it from interfering when the rider is steering. However only reducing the damping force will lead to insufficient damping force when the handle, unresponsive because of kickback, shakes. We solved this problem with the development of an electric control damper which generates sufficient damping force at low steering angle rates and also allows for mechanically limiting the maximum damping force.

This paper reports visualization of behavior of spray, wall film, and initial flame propagation in an SI engine with port fuel injection system for motorcycle in order to directly investigate their influences on combustion and relations among them. Borescopes were used to visualize the flame propagation in the combustion chamber and wall film in the intake port. Various injection systems and injection parameters were tested: injection direction, timing, and size of droplets to investigate the effect of mixture formation. It is concluded that combustion stability under low load condition is greatly influenced by mixture inhomogeneity in the combustion chamber whose evidence is the luminous emission. It is caused by direct induction of considerable amount of liquid fuel with large size of droplets into combustion chamber or too inhomogeneous mixture in the intake port.

In this paper, we introduce a research of Steering Damper using MR fluid (Magnetorheological Fluid). In recent years, Steering Dampers have been used in motocross races on off road courses. Steering Dampers stabilize the front end of motocross bikes that are used in competitive races held on rough terrain. The advantage of a Steering Damper is increased stability, however hydraulic Steering Dampers give rise to the problem of ‘Heavy Steering’. In order to solve this problem, we used MR Fluid and developed an Electronic Control Steering Damper that does not use a valve like hydraulic damper. The damper design uses “Direct Shear Mode” and features a steering angle sensor built into the damper, which results in easier, smoother steering. To test the effectiveness of our new design, we installed our new Steering Damper on the YZ 450F (Yamaha's competition model). We then asked for feedback from riders both in Japan and overseas.

With the hope of efficient and sophisticated motorcycle engine development, an engine test bed that can simulate vehicle running conditions using an ultra-low inertia motor and high response load control system was constructed, and was applied to the development of engines. By combining an exhaust gas analyzer, an exhaust gas constant volume sampler (CVS), and a data processing system, mass emissions could be measured in various test cycles. This system's advantages for data repeatability and test efficiency compared with a chassis test using a vehicle were confirmed. An acceleration test was conducted to assess running performance, and good agreement with actual driving values was confirmed. In addition, by measuring and evaluating engine response to throttle manipulation, it was possible to evaluate driveability on the test bed. These test findings indicate that this test bed can simulate vehicle driving tests with the engine only and will be a useful tool in engine development.

Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) system is a compact lightweight system as it eliminates the need of a complex reformer unit. Moreover, since the methanol-water-solution used as fuel does not correspond to a flammable substance, it is thought that convenience is high. We have developed the hybrid scooter integrated with the DMFC system and the Li-ion rechargeable batteries, and optimized various parameters related to the performance and the efficiency. The power output of the DMFC system was adjusted to the value necessary for a constant ground run in 30 km/h of a commercial small electric scooter. All the system components had to be constituted in the limited space and under the restricted weight conditions. The net-power-output of the system was examined under various air flow rate, fuel flow rate and methanol concentration conditions.

A high-quality die-casting technology has been developed for lightweight aluminum frame structures that produces high-strength aluminum parts that are also weldable. This new technology has been used in casting frames for motorcycles and snowmobiles and has enabled improved frame designs with far fewer component parts than was possible before. This die-casting technology also results in a significant reduction in energy consumption during the manufacturing process.