Experimental Setup

The device is constructed using the components mentioned above. A simplified block diagram of the device is presented in Fig.1. A NIB permanent magnet is attached to the upper bottom part of the side stand. A reed switch sensor can sense the magnetic field and is placed in a convenient position on the body of the motorcycle. When the stand is in vertical position, the reed switch is out of the region of the magnet and it senses nothing. Whenever the stand is retracted to its horizontal position, the sensor falls inside the field of the NIB magnet. Hence it can sense the magnet.
The reed switch relates to the embedded controller for detection of the side stand position. The logic inside the controller is set in such a way that if the reed sensor senses a field then the stand is in horizontal position. If it doesn’t sense magnetic field of NIB magnet then the stand is in the vertical position.
The embedded controller operates a circuit breaker relay and a buzzer after sensing the position of side stand. The circuit breaker is connected in series with the ignition circuit of the motorcycle. When the controller senses that the side stand is in vertical position and the motorbike is powered on, then the controller operates the circuit breaker and opens the ignition circuit. In this condition the bike cannot be started as the ignition coil does not ignite the engine. In addition to opening the ignition circuit, Arduino also operates the buzzer to continuously alert the driver that the stand is not in the correct position.
On the other hand, if the reed switch sensor senses the magnetic field then embedded controller considers that the stand is in horizontal position. In this case the relay does not operate. This means the ignition circuit is closed and the motorcycle can be started. No buzzer is operated in this condition.
This whole protective device is powered from the internal battery power of the motorcycle which is of 12 V DC . This is the recommended power input to an Arduino UNO or embedded controller which can be operated with 5-12 V DC. The whole system only turns on when the bike power supply is turned on using a key. No extra power is lost during the standing condition of the bike when the bike is not turned on with a key.