Magnetic Angle Sensor-Assisted Identification and Control of a Throttle Valve

This letter addresses the system identification and control of a throttle valve (TV) from a production engine perspective. Despite advances in control theory and AI, industrial controllers still often use conventional proportional–integral (PI) techniques for the TV. However, the TV's inherent system and sensor nonlinearities challenge the PI controller's ability to maintain satisfactory tracking across diverse operating conditions. This letter upgrades the conventional PI controller with a nonlinear error function and introduces a single-stage indirect closed-loop system identification using simulated annealing optimization. Detailed procedures for the identification process and controller development are provided. A comparative performance analysis shows that the nonlinear modification can reduce the root-mean-square tracking error by up to 70%, making the nonlinear PI (NPI) controller a strong alternative to traditional counterparts.