L-1011 Trainer Installation: Main Instrument Cluster - EPR, %RPM N1 and FF Power-Up

L-1011 Trainer - Engine Cluster Power-Up

Switching over to the main instrument panel with the 115V 400Hz system power up for today. Two reasons; a) to run the necessary AC power returns from the CB3 Breaker Panel to the MIP and b) to test out the main instrument cluster and associated breakers. I know I have been talking about these %RPM and EPR instruments for a bit in the past but where is all this %RPM stuff actually located on the engine? Below is an image from the Delta L-1011 Pilot's Reference manual that shows the different compressor spools in the RB.211 engine.

RB.211 Engine from Delta L-1011 Pilot's Reference Manual

EPR, or Exhaust Pressure Ratio, is measured at the engine inlet and outlet and effectively displays the pressure ration between the two of them. This ratio presents a very good picture of the actual thrust output of the engine. 

L-1011 Trainer - EPR and %RPM N1

While the %RPM instruments (N1, N2 and N3) are all somewhat simple tachometer instruments, the EPR will need to be controlled differently. But more about that when we get to the actually connecting the instruments to the computers part of the project.

Below is a short video that shows the 400 cycle power-up and BITE (Built In Self Test) of the Lockheed L-1011 EPR and %RPM N1 instruments. You will notice that the EPR instrument show random values ... this is because they are not connected to a signal source quite yet and the instrument inputs are free floating.

Also powered up the Fuel Flow (FF) instruments, however, without the signal line between the Fuel Used gauges on the Flight Station there is not much to actually demonstrate on these instruments. You see that they have power going to them because they have cleared the flag (the red bar across the digital display on the bottom of the instrument).

L-1011 Trainer: Fuel Flow Power-Up

L-1011 Trainer Installation: Fuel Indication - Power-On Tests

L-1011 Trainer - Fuel Indication System

Getting the instrumentation online is quite exciting because suddenly the Lockheed L-1011 simulator/trainer gradually starts to come alive. Today I powered up the Fuel Indication system. It consists of 4 tank gauges and a fuel totalizer. The four fuel gauges feed signals to the Fuel Totalizer who then displays the total fuel load and allows for the Gross Weight of the aircraft to be entered prior to takeoff.

I have previously quite extensively blogged about the Fuel Level indicators, and you can find the more detailed blog posting on the Fuel Level indicator and the Fuel Totalizer by clicking on the link.

Below is a video that shows the #2L and the #1 fuel level gauges active and feeding data into the totalizer on the left hand side. For the test the indicators are instructed do point to roughly 1/2 tank full by supplying 5VDC to the instruments.

We are missing a Deutsch 15-S7 connector ... until then we are not able to power up the #3 tank gauge. If you have one ... let me know.

L-1011 Trainer Installation: Oil Quantity and Datalink Display Power-Up

L-1011 Trainer - Oil Quantity Instrument Power-Up

Powered up some additional engine components on the FE station today and worked on the 400Hz power feed to the main instrument panel. In the image above you see the engine number 2 and engine number 3 oil quantity indicators perform the built in self test (BITE). 

From. Delta L-1011 Pilot's Reference.

The Data Link panel only initialized to a test screen and a configuration screen that allows for the brightness adjustment of the display. Until the display will be fed ARINC 429 data via the V1 Avionics SIM42911 interface there will not be much other data on the display. However, it is now powered from the 400Hz power source and will be ready for action as soon as we start setting up the computers.

L-1011 Trainer - Data Link Display

L-1011 Trainer - Data Link Power-Up

L-1011 Trainer Installation: %N2 Instrument Power-Up - 400Hz Power System Validation

The short video clip above shows another set of instruments now connected to the 400Hz power distribution system. By the way, we finally found a third %N2 RPM indicator that should arrive at the museum shortly so that we can finally replace the fake one we still have in place for Engine 3. What you see in the video is the instrument self test, or BITE (Built In Test). In the case of the %N2 RPM indicator the BITE will drive the instrument to 91% RPM N2.

By the way, one day I will learn how to operate instruments and hold the camera more steady at the same time!

Below is the description of the %N2 Tachometer taken from the Delta's Pilots Reference manual for the Lockheed L-1011.

L-1011 %N2 Tachometer - from Delta L-1011 Pilot's Reference

L-1011 Trainer Installation: Fuel Used Instrument Power-Up - 400Hz Power System

Here is a video of the first set of instruments powered from the 400Hz distribution system in the Lockheed L-1011 simulator at the National Museum of Commercial Aviation. You can find a lot more detail on the Fuel Used instruments as part of the Fuel Consumed Indicator blog posting. Providing these first three instruments with the 115V 400Hz power from the AC Bus 1 Ext, AC Bus 2 Ext and AC Bus 3 Ext subsystems checks the 400Hz system end to end:

Below is a more detailed description of the Fuel Flow system on the L-1011. 

L-1011 Engine Fuel Used System - From Delta Pilot's Reference

L-1011 Trainer Installation: 400Hz Power Distribution

L-1011 Trainer Installation: 400Hz Power Distribution

Today we put about 75% of the 400Hz power distribution in place. For the simulator we are really dealing with 3 different power sources: a) the 24V DC power system, b) 120V 60Hz AC power and c) 115V 400Hz AC power. Creating (a) and (b) was easy, however, as you saw in the previous posting, the 400Hz power required a special inverter that converts 60Hz power to 400Hz power. We are actually using the system we built for the 120V 60Hz power to drive the 400Hz power system. In other words, the power sense modules on the 60Hz side instruct bus segments on the 400Hz side to power on and off with respective relays.

To keep things a bit easier to identify we are using blue cables for the 400Hz system. The image below shows the current build state of the 400Hz system.

L-1011 Trainer - 400Hz Bus System Build out

By the way, the image shows some nifty new DIN rail mounts (the silver rack mounts) that Jim Blasco custom built for the project. They are really awesome and come at quite a cost saving to the project. Thank You Jim! Eventually all the cables will be dressed out once the system is fully built and it will certainly look a lot less like a rats nest :)

L-1011 Power Distribution System - Trainer Installation

L-1011 Trainer Installation: 400Hz Power in the Sim

115V AC 400Hz Power Inverter

Today we finally powered up the 115V AC 400Hz inverter for the Lockheed L-1011 trainer. Thanks to Richard Grigg and the engineers from Paul Wiley Electrical who worked late into the evening yesterday to establish the power feed from the main board to the sim room. The device will produce 5000VA on a single phase and will be able to meet all the needs for 400Hz avionics power that we have in the sim and then some more. There was an option to run it as 10KVA device, but we chose not to install it that way. Here are some more details on the unit:

High Power AC 400Hz Military APU 3 Three Phase Inverter 10 KVA output power. Manufactured by Transistor Devices, for transport (Lockheed C130) Auxiliary Power Unit. Input voltage is 208 three phase 50/60 Hz, Output is 200/115 (phase to phase/phase to neutral) VAC at 28 amps/leg, Model numbers are ESU127/A Power supply, and ECU-128/A for the static inverter modules. The inverter is built up from three modules. The thin one on the left is the redundant AC input module that does power factor correction. It then sends 350-450 VDC to the power supply inverter module on the right. Inside the right module a switch mode power supply takes the PFC output voltage and generates +/-200VDC and sends it off to the three phase inverter. The inverter then chops up the DC into three phase 115/200 Wye configuration (with neutral).

We had to move the inverter to the storage room in the museum because the machine is very noisy mainly because of two large air-movers. Below is a short video showing the machine in action.

We now have the 400Hz Power we need for the project in the sim. This marks the beginning of the instrumentation power-up in the trainer.

L-1011 Trainer: 400Hz Power on GEN1

L-1011 Trainer Installation: AFCS Mode and AFCS Warning Panel Power Up

L-1011 AFCS Mode Annunciator - FO Side

Had to hold off on working on more instrument lighting today due to the fact that we ran out of the type terminal block we use for the different light buses. No need to mix and match and hopefully over the next week or two we will have a fresh supply of terminal blocks.

So, switched to the AFCS Mode and AFCS Warning Annunciators today. I have actually quite extensively blogged about these two instruments; check out:

Pinout and Demo of the AFCS Warning Panel

and 

AFCS Mode Annunciator Breakdown

The four annunciators (two on the Captain's side and two on the FO side) are now powered up and can be self tested. The AFCS Mode annunciators have breakers on the CB1 panel and the AFCS Warning annunciators have their breakers on the CB2 panel.

L-1011 AFCS Warning Annunciator - Captain's Side

L-1011 Trainer: AFCS Mode and Warning Indicator Location

L-1011 AFCS Mode Annunciator - Captain's Side

L-1011 Trainer Installation: Cockpit Seat Renovation (Upholstery)

L-1011 Cockpit Seats - First Officer and Captain's

So, when you put airplanes into the desert for long-term storage, you do so to keep them from corroding. However, as a tradeoff, there are some materials in the aircraft that don't take well to longtime exposure to very hot and very dry environments. One such material in particular is the foam inside the cockpit seat cushions. To make matters worse, some of the stored aircraft sit in the desert for along time with no cockpit windows at all which then exposes the seats to full sunlight, dust storms and all kinds of desert nastiness. Clearly our British Airways seats suffered from quite some long exposure to heat and both the bottom and back cushions for the two pilots seats had completely deteriorated. 

Bottom Seat Cushion

Below is an image of one of the bottom seat cushions. The heat more or less backed this naturally pretty firm foam material to a solid brick that has started to crumble apart. You can actually see the foam falling apart in one of the images as if it was coarse sand.

L-1011 Cockpit Seat Foam Deterioration.

L-1011 cockpit Seat Foam Deterioration 

All of the foam used for the cockpit seats has to be removed and replaced with new foam that is close the the original firmness of the cockpit seat foam. To do this we us CF-90 foam which is very nice a firm and frequently used in the automotive industry. It can be very easily cut with a blade or a band saw.

L-1011 Cockpit Seat Restoration - Foam Replacement

Below is an image of the new first officer's seat bottom seat cushion.

L-1011 Cockpit Seat - Foam Replaced

L-1011 Cockpit Seat - Foam Replaced

All of the seat covers have a bit of a bleached look from the long term direct exposure to the sun. I am generally okay with that. The covers have been washed cold several times and, despite the fact they are from 1986 are holding form perfectly.

Back Seat Cushion

The back seat cushions arrived in very rare shape. They had a lot of rot mainly due to the fact that they had been repaired at one point during their life and a slice of the original foam had been laminated together with a somewhat firmer replacement piece using some type of epoxy. Needless to say, you can see in the images below that the back cushion foam had badly badly deteriorated. 

L-1011 Back Seat Cushion Deterioration

L-1011 Back Seat Cushion Deterioration

Trust me, you would not want to sit in this! Besides the great amount of rot on the foam the cushions had also been baked into rock hard boards. So, just like the bottom cushion they are being replaced as part of our renovation effort. The seat backs are sculpted so to give better back support .... hence, getting them into the correct form took some time. However, below are some images of the completed back.

L-1011 Cockpit Seat - Back Cushion

L-1011 Cockpit Seat - Sculpted Back Cushion

Below is the first finished set ready to go back to the museum. We are still on the hunt for the Flight Engineer's seat ... hopefully we will be able to locate one soon.

L-1011 Cockpit Seat Cushions - Restored

Update:

Installed.

Avionics Bending: Engine Oil Pressure Indicator

L-1011 Engine Oil Pressure - Smiths' Ltd.

The Engine Oil Pressure indicators used on the Lockheed L-1011 are made by Smiths. All in all there are three of these, one for each engine. They have a range from 0 to 100 psi in increments of 5 psi. Pressure range markings are red from 0 to 35 psi, yellow from 35 to 40 psi and green from 40 to 100 psi.

The three indicators have a common test switch on the panel (not shown in this posting). The test switch will drive the indicators to about 22 psi.

To indicate pressure the instrument would send a 400Hz SIN and COSIN signal to a sensor. The oil pressure presses down on a piston that then moves a coil that sends back a phase shifted signal to the instrument. The phase difference between the 400Hz reference signal and the signal produced by the sensor is then indicated as the pressure on the front of the instrument.

The image below shows a simulated phase shifted signal that outputs the 55 psi you see in the image at the top of this posting. The phase shift can be somewhat reproduced with a digital potentiometer, however, a much more elegant way would be with a resolver or a Digtial to Synchro Converter. The video at the bottom of the posting shows the instrument in action receiving a number of different wave offsets.

L-1011 Engine Oil Pressure Indicator - Phase Offset

Here is the schematic and pinout for the L-1011 Engine Pressure Indicator made by Smith Ltd.:

L-1011 Trainer Installation: MIP and FE Station Instrument Lighting

L-1011 Trainer: Instrument Lighting Build-Out (FE Station)

Today we continued the build-out of some of the integral instrument lighting on the FE station as well as the main instrument panel. On the FE station we connected the Engine %RPM N2 instruments as well as the Slat Monitor / Slat Position Indicator. All the instruments use 5V power and are driven from either the FE Station Lower Right Light Bus (for the %N2) and the FE Station Upper Right Light Bus (Slat Position).

During the connector installation we discovered that the FE station used for the trainer has a metal plate right behind the Slat Monitor that prevented the connector from mating correctly with the instrument. Therefore, we had to make a panel configuration change and move the Flight Engineer's Annunciator Panel into the position of the Slat Monitor and moved the Slat Monitor down.

L-1011 Trainer: FE Station Instrument Lighting and Door Annunciator

We don't think that this configuration change is going to make a significant difference to the authenticity of the L-1011 cockpit, however, one of the %RPM N2 instruments is still one of the original simulated procedures trainer instruments. Need to replace it with the real flight hardware as soon as I can find one.

L-1011 Trainer: FE Station %N2 Instrument Lighting

Last week we had started powering up the instruments on the pilot's center instrument panel. This is the place where the majority of the engine instruments are located. The instruments are split into two 5V light buses: Captain's Center Instrument Left and Captain's Center Instrument Right. The instruments that you can see illuminated in the picture below all belong to the Center Instrument Right light bus. During the initial build-out session we discovered that we did not have the right connectors for the Engine EPR instruments ... hence, we could not connect them ... we missed three Deutsch 15-S7 connectors. We now have them (those guys are hard to find and expensive) but we finally got them. So now all the instruments belonging to this light bus are connected.

L-1011 Trainer Build-Out: Main Instrument Panel Engine EPR Instrument Lighting