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This paper develops an adaptive idle speed control strategy for a V2, 1000 cc four-stroke, water-cooled, port injection SI engine. In order to verify the proposed strategy, the non-dimensional engine model including charging and torque dynamics is established in Matlab/Simulink software based on previously experimental verification. The integration of dynamics above will be a multi-input-single-output (MISO) system, which inputs are throttle angle and spark advance angle, and the output is engine speed. The proposed adaptive controller is developed on the model-based structure. The system parameters are updated by recursive least square (RLS) method so the system is able to represent the actual operation. The updated system parameters adjust control gain by derivation of closed-loop gain and pole placement.

This paper develops an engine model for the model-in-the-loop (MIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) application to shorten the time duration and reduce the costs of developing and verifying the engine management system (EMS). The target engine is a 1.0L V-type two cylinder water-cooled spark-ignition engine. The engine model is developed using a so-called modulization method, which includes to: (1) separate the sub-models according to the different physical phenomena; (2) collect the sub-models to establish a library; (3) execute the component modules based on a pre-determined sequence by a more flexible way. The engine model is then applied in MIL structure for testing and verifying the control strategies in the developed EMS. After all strategies are verified, the HIL structure is constructed by a hardware controller and a virtual engine in the xPC target. The execution time-step of engine model is analyzed to keep enough accuracy and numeric stability for real-time simulation.

The fossil fuel is consumed faster than last century. However, the fossil fuel reserves might be depleted due to its limited resources. Many researchers have started to seek alternative of fossil fuels for vehicles. Biofuels are regarded as a shorten-solution which synthesizes some additive fuel from bio-materials into fossil fuel to reduce fossil fuel consumption and can be applied on original fuel supplying system of vehicles that becomes another advantage. This paper focuses on studying the operation characteristics of using gasohol biofuel in a production motorcycle engine. Engine experiments with various test conditions are designed to investigate the operation characteristics with different concentration of ethanol. The ethanol concentrations considered in this paper include 10%, 20%, 50%, 65%, and 80% by weight, which are then compared with the results from pure gasoline.

This paper established a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) system for developing the engine management system (EMS) of a motorcycle, which combines xPC target real-time simulator and PC based controller. An engine model of 125cc four-stroke gasoline engine that included the calculation of cylinder pressure is employed to be a control plant. A proposed control strategy developed with application of this HIL is verified to be superior to the conventional EMS of motorcycles. The proposed controller can send fuel injection and spark ignition control signals every two revolutions accurately via stroke identification method. During the engine running period, perhaps the ignition coil or other electronic equipment will conduct noise that interfere crankshaft tooth signal. Therefore, a Kalman filter is designed to improve the robustness of controller. Under interference, the performance of proposed controller is more satisfied than that without Kalman filter.

In order to improve the performance of a small gasoline engine, a part of oxygen is added to the intake air when the engine is operated at wide open throttle. The combustion process can be enhanced by using an oxidant that contains a higher proportion of oxygen than that in normal air. This paper studies the combustion characteristics and engine performance of such engine. Engine testing is performed on a 50 cc four-stroke spark-ignition engine with the oxygen concentration of intake air ranging from 21% to 25% by volume. The engine torque is increased with increasing oxygen concentration. The HC and CO emissions are decreased with oxygen enrichment, but the NOx emission is increased.

A well-designed headlamp system should allow enough illumination to road conditions and less glare to an oncoming vehicle for night-time driving or in darkness. However, loads and body motions of a running vehicle can affect the beam direction of a headlamp. Besides, car braking and acceleration also cause vehicle pitching and then change beam direction. Change of beam direction due to the above factors results in insufficient illumination in front of a car and glaring to the oncoming vehicles. To solve the above problems, one solution is to equip a vehicle with a horizontal adjustable headlight system for night-time driving or in darkness. However, some road conditions, such as speed breaker or pavement with pot-hole, can cause high frequency vehicle vibrations, which will cause high frequency headlight adjustments if the headlamp is adjustable. These unnecessary high-frequency adjustments might also cause safety problems to drivers.

In order to study the noise effect of the crank angle sensor on electronic fuel injection (EFI) control system, a Kalman filter with stroke identification is employed to estimate the crankshaft rotational dynamics. Estimated crank angle and speed are then used for EFI system. A 125 c.c. scooter engine verified by the experimental data is used to design the Kalman filter. A simulation model, which consists of nonlinear engine dynamics, powertrain dynamics, tire dynamics, and pitch-plane motorcycle dynamics, is established in Matlab/Simulink to evaluate the performance of the Kalman filter at various noise conditions.