L-1011 Trainer Installation: Airspeed and ADI Power-UP

L-1011 Trainer - A/S and ADI Power-Up

Both the Airspeed Indicator and the ADI are Synchro driven instruments. So simply supplying power to them doesn't really do all that much, however, it's all part of the power-up process. In the video below you can see that the Airspeed indicator does not quite know how to display a Mach number since we are not feeding speed and altitude data to it quite yet, and the ADI clears the R/O flag and the GATE flag. As we start producing valid signals with the compute all the flags will clear and the instruments will start displaying simulator data.

L-1011 Trainer Installation: %RPM N3 Power-Up and BITE

L-1011 Trainer - %RPM N3 Power-Up

The %RPM N3 indicators receive 115VAC, 400Hz power from the AC Standby Bus. So they are part of the essential engine instrumentation. The indicator has an Overlimit Painter that will record any overspeed condition. The pointer will remain at overspeed indication until 28VDC is supplied to the Reset Solenoid in the instrument. Current, we have not connected the reset circuit quite yet ... but it will be one of the next things.

BITE: Depressing the Test switch on the lower left hand side of the indicator face should cause the pointer and counter to read 64.0%

Below is a short video showing the indicator BITE in action:

%RPM N! and N3 from Delta L-1011 Pilot's Reference

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: %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 CPT Installation - AC and DC Power Buildout

115V 400Hz Power Inverter for the L-1011 Simulator

The work on the AC and DC power sources and the distribution systems is ongoing. Today Jim and I worked mostly on placing an 120VAC Power conditioner and a huge 115V 400Hz Inverter into a rack. These two units will become the main power sources for the L-1011 Trainer at the National Museum of Commercial Aviation. The image above shows the 400Hz inverter ... aka. The Beast. Below is an image of the 120VAC power conditioner.

120V AC Power Conditioner for the L-1011 Simulator 

Both power units will be remote controlled via the Electrical System panel in the L-1011 trainer. In order to reduce the amount of thermal output and fan noise in the sim room we are placing the power units outside the sim room in a 19" equipment rack. Here are a few images from the installation work/

120V AC Power Conditioner in Rack

Jim working on the Inverter Base

Jim Working Placing Railes for the 115VAC 400Hz Inverter

120VAC Power Conditioner and 115VAC 400Hz Inverter 

400Hz Inverter Power Feeds

The main power units feed a series of power distribution panels that will simulate the actual power busses found on the L-1011. the units had previously been used on a flight simulator and are currently in bits and pieces. In order to get them ready for installation in the simulator room we are refurbishing the units and testing them prior to reuse.

Power Control Panel Rework for the L-1011 Simulator

One of 3 Power Distribution Panels for the L-1011 Simulator

Avionics Bending: 400 Hz Power

Many of the original flight hardware instruments, especially on the L1011, require 400Hz power. Typically we either need 115V or 26V 400Hz power.

For the L1011 project I am using a 400Hz power supply made by NOVA. Of course any 400Hz inverter produces a very characteristic high pitch sound and therefore the supply is banned to another room :-) The supply takes single phase 110V 60Hz power which makes it perfect for the construction phase of the project.