Avionics Bending: Mechanical Synchro Signal Producer (Part 6)

Mechanical Digital to Synchro Converter - Connector and Electronics Bay

I added the connector plate and the electronics bay to the design. The Beagle Bone Black (BBB) will ride in an "electronics bay" on the backside of the design. This will be located behind the synchro transmitter. For the initial design there will be daughter board on the BBB driving the stepper motor (see image below). All connectivity, except for Ethernet, will be brought in through a Tyco Circular Connector. 

Mechanical Digital to Synchro Converter - Connector and Electronics Bay

The image below show the current design from behind. I envision a case around the complete design and a DIN rail holding bracket so that the unit, or multiple units, can be attached to a DIN rail in the simulator. The 26VAC 400Hz power sill also be brought in via the Tyco circular connector.

Mechanical Digital to Synchro Converter - Connector and Electronics Bay

Here is the left hand side view of the current design iteration. 

Mechanical Digital to Synchro Converter - Connector and Electronics Bay

Over time I will probably come up with a more space optimized design. If you have any design ideas please call them out to me. 

Avionics Bending: Mechanical Synchro Signal Producer (Part 5)

Mechanical Digital to Synchro Convert

Here is the first printed and assembled version of the mechanical digital to synchro converter motor assembly. It's a pretty simply assembly and together with the stepper motor and the synchro transmitter and the optical sensor I am about $22 into the project. In the image below you can see the proposed location of the optical sensor.  Next will be to design the plate that holds the Beagle Bone to drive the stepper motor with.

Mechanical Digital to Synchro Converter

Once I get a little further with the design I will put the CAD files on grabcad and the code on github. 

L-1011 Trainer Installation: AC an DC Standby Power from Battery

L-1011 Trainer: AC and DC STBY Power from Battery

Finished the L-1011 AC Standby (STBY) and DC STBY power fail-over to the on-board Battery yesterday evening. On the actual aircraft, once transferred to Battery power, the standby buses are alive for about 30 minutes before the Battery is depleted.

Normally, the DC STBY bus receives powered from the DC Essential bus and the AC STBY bus is powered by the AC Essential bus. The AC and DC STBY bus are the last resort to keep the aircraft operational in case of a complete loss of primary electrical systems. If the respective Essential power busses fail, the STBY busses are switched to the on-board Battery. AC power is created form the on-board Battery via a DC to 115V/400Hz Inverter. Watch the short demonstration video below and you will see the system in action.

L-1011 - CPT Installation at the Museum - Installation Part 1

L-1011 Trainer - Installation

Today we started the installation of the L-1011 Cockpit Procedure Trainer at the National Museum of Commercial Aviation here in Atlanta. Jay, Adam, Jim, Richard and myself moved the trainer from our storage facility to the sim room at the museum. As described previously, we are planing on making the trainer highly interactive and available to museum visitors as part of a Flight Discovery program. The image above shows where we left it at the end of today. We pretty much have the following components assembled:

1. The Forward Simulator Platform
2. The Aft Simulator Platform
3. The Left and Right Pilots Console
4. The Main Instrument Panel
5. The Center Console

The diagram below shows the components that are now installed in the sim room outlined in blue:

Here are a number of images from the progressive installation of the simulator into the sim room at the museum.

L-1011 Flight Controls Prior to Installation

The image above shows the L-1011 Trainer yokes. The yokes have torque generators for both pitch and roll. The torque generated is very similar to the L-1011 with functioning hydraulic systems. In the image blow you can see the yokes installed into the forward platform of the the L-1011 trainer.

L-1011 Trainer - Progressive Installation - Yokes

Next, we installed the empty main instrument panel. The big gap in the middle is the place where the center console goes. The yellow handles are the manual gear release handles that are simulated in the L-1011 trainer as a functioning element.

L-1011 Trainer - MIP Installation

To finish out the installation today we put the center console in place. Below you see that the center console still has the photo-simulated instrumentation in place that will be replaced with the real instrumentation once the complete trainer is installed.

L-1011 Center Console Installation