Integrated control system for an internal-combustion engine of a motorcycle provided with a gas knob and acquisition system for detecting the angular position of a knob for the gas of a motorcycle

#The present invention relates to an integrated control system for an internal-combustion engine of a motorcycle provided with a gas knob and to an acquisition system for detecting the angular position of a knob for the gas of a motorcycle.

#A traditional motorcycle comprises a gas knob (conventionally the knob set to the right of the handlebar), which is rotatably mounted and is mechanically connected to a control of the engine that regulates generation of the torque. Normally, the gas knob is connected to the control of the engine by means of at least one metal cable of a Bowden type, which is inserted within an external sheath to slide with respect to the sheath itself and is pushed by a spring towards a resting position corresponding to a zero torque.

#Recently, drawing upon the experience accumulated in the automotive sector, also in motorcycles there has been proposed the application of drive-by-wire (DBW) systems, in which the gas knob is no longer mechanically connected with the control of the engine, but is only connected with a position sensor that detects the position of the gas knob and consequently drives an actuator that acts mechanically on the control of the engine.

#The present invention will now be described with reference to the annexed plates of drawings, which illustrate some non-limiting examples of embodiment thereof, in which:

#FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an acquisition system for detecting the angular position of a knob for the gas of a motorcycle built in accordance with the present invention;

#FIG. 2 is a graph of the two outputs of a first sensor of angular position of the acquisition system of FIG. 1;

#In FIG. 1, the reference number 1 designates as a whole an acquisition system for detecting the angular position α of a gas knob 2 of a motorcycle for a control system of a DBW type.

#The acquisition system 1 comprises a fixed supporting body 3, which is set at a certain distance from the gas knob 2 and is C-shaped. Housed in the supporting body 3 is a mobile element constituted by a rotating shaft 4, which is mounted idle by means of a pair of bearings 5 so as to be able to turn freely around a central axis of its own. The rotating shaft 4 exits from the fixed supporting body 3 at two opposite ends of the rotating shaft 4 itself and is mechanically connected to the gas knob 2 by means of a transmission device 6 that transmits motion from the gas knob 2 to the rotating shaft 4 itself.

#According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the transmission device 6 is of the cable type and comprises a sheave 7 of a push-pull type, fixed with respect to the rotating shaft 4 and a pair of cables 8 of a Bowden type (i.e., housed in a slidable way within respective external sheaths), each of which has one end constrained to the gas knob 2 and one opposite end, fixed with respect to the sheave 7. The sheave 7 is set in a position of centre of the rotating shaft 4 itself and hence is housed in a protected position within the fixed supporting body 3.