Field-programmable gate array controller design for air-powered motorcycle

This article presents a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) speed controller design and applied in an air-powered motorcycle which utilizes an air motor and a high-pressure gas cylinder to replace the internal combustion engine and oil tank, respectively. One of the main purposes of this research is to find the relationship between velocity and efficiency of an air-powered motorcycle. In addition, a speed control system is developed based on FPGA in order to control the velocity of an air-powered motorcycle. The control theories are actualized by the hardware description language and modular conception is used to divide a complex system into many parts. This design methodology shortens the development time and is easy to modify for each module. Besides, the system dynamics of air-powered motorcycle was derived through the tractive effort and the dynamic response was simulated by the Matlab software. From the experimental results, the air-powered motorcycle can drive with the best efficiency, at the velocity expected by the proportional-integral (PI) and Lyapunov speed controllers. Also, the experimental data show that the chattering ranges are 2.7 per cent and 6.9 per cent of Lyapunov controller and PI controller, respectively, under the same velocity.