Electronic Throttle Control System: Modeling, Identification and Model-Based Control Designs

Abstract

Electronic throttle control (ETC) system has worked its way to becoming a standard subsystem in most of the current automobiles as it has contributed much to the improvement of fuel economy, emissions, drivability and safety. Precision control of the subsystem, which consists of a dc motor driving a throttle plate, a pre-loaded return spring and a set of gear train to regulate airflow into the engine, seems rather straightforward and yet complex. The difficulties lie in the unknown system parameters, hard nonlinearity of the pre-loaded spring that pulls the throttle plate to its default position, and friction, among others. In this paper, we extend our previous results obtained for the modeling, unknown system parameters identification and control of a commercially available Bosch’s DV-E5 ETC system. Details of modeling and parameters identification based on laboratory experiments, data analysis, and knowledge of the system are provided. The parameters identification results were verified and validated by a real-time PID control implemented with an xPC Target. A nonlinear control design was then proposed utilizing the input-output feedback linearization approach and technique. In view of a recent massive auto recalls due to the controversial uncontrollable engine accelerations, the results of this paper may inspire further research interest on the drive-by-wire technology.