QJMotor

QJMotor developing electronic clutch By Ben Purvis

Virtually every modern motorcycle already uses a ride-by-wire throttle that eliminates the mechanical link between your right hand and the butterflies, so it's not a giant leap to suggest the same idea could be applied to other controls. Now China's QJMotor is working on an electronic clutch actuator that opens the door to a wide range of semi-automatic transmission options.

Revealed in a patent filed in China, the electronic clutch is actually quite simple. It features an actuator made of an electric motor and a small reduction gearbox that turns a shaft with a cam on it that engages or disengages the clutch. The actuator is mounted on the clutch cover and the system doesn't need any changes deeper in the engine, so the same thinking and components could be applied to a variety of different motors. In QJMotor's patent, it's shown on the company's 693 cc parallel twin.

In its simplest form, the electronic clutch is, in operation, indistinguishable from a conventional cable or hydraulic design. There's still a lever on the bars, but instead of a mechanical connection to the clutch, it only needs some electrical cables. A sensor on the clutch lever monitors its position and, via an electronic control unit, transmits that position to the actuator on the clutch housing.

Even in that, basic form, it opens up several possibilities. For instance, the actuator and ECU could be programmed to stop the clutch from being released too fast, or to stop it from being slipped excessively. It could also be mapped to give a more gradual, progressive feel at the lever, be programmed to disengage the clutch if the bike is about to stall, or work in harmony with the ride-by-wire throttle to ensure the clutch and throttle are perfectly balanced when you pull away, even if the actual inputs at the controls are 'off'.

The idea also opens the door to more sophisticated developments. Working with a ride-by-wire throttle and a conventional quickshifter, the electronic clutch could be programmed to make the clutch lever on the bars entirely redundant. It could automatically disengage the clutch when you come to a halt and feed it back in when you open the throttle to pull away. 

If a simple electronic actuator was added to the shift lever as well, the same system could easily be adapted for fully automatic gearchanges or a pushbutton shift on the bars, all without making in-depth engineering changes to the engine and transmission themselves.

The engine that the system is illustrated on in QJMotor's patent is already used on the SRK700 model and the Benelli TRK702, both models that are already offered globally.