Atlanta Flight Simulator Builder - Meetup

I am organizing a simulator builder meet up at the Museum on April 3rd 2014. If you are in Atlanta, please join us for this event! We will be talking about the flight simulator project.

http://www.meetup.com/Atlanta-Flight-Simulator-Builder-Meetup/events/169352672/

See you there!

L-1011 - CPT - DC Power Planning - Part 2

Phoenix Contact 24VDC Power Supply

Some of the components for the first DC Power Bus have arrived. To re-create the DC and AC power systems of the Lockheed L-1011 I am going to use components made by Phoenix Contact. All the elements are made to mount on standard DIN Rails and are industrial grade. The DIN Rails can be installed in the simulator very easily and create a clean setup that is easy to service. Here is an example of a power distribution installed into the overhead panel of our MD-83 simulator.

Phoenix Contact Power Distribution installed in Simulator

Two postings ago I showed you a proposed layout for one of the DC buses the the Phoenix Contact elements shown in this posting will be used to implement it.

L-1011 DC Power Bus Simulation with Phoenix Contact Components

The 120VAC 60Hz to 24VDC 10A power supply is shown in the image at the top of this posting. Each of the DC power buses simulated will receive one of them.

The image below shows the Phoenix Contact 24VDC Relays. These relays are capable of directly interfacing with many of the switches on the L-1011 simulator panels. The relay can drive all the voltages used on the L-1011 simulator including the TTL interfaces to the computers.

Phoenix Contact 24VDC Relays

The relay modules are very thin (the fill one DIN Rail slot each) and the seven relays in the image above are just 1 1/3" (about 44mm) wide. The actual relays are very easily replaced (see image below) by simply popping them out and putting in a new one.

Phoenix Contact 24VDC Relay Module

The Diode module has 4 diodes in it. Enough to protect each of the DC power supplies from voltage coming in from the DC Tie Bus. You can see the module a bit closer up in the image below together with one of the standard terminal blocks used to connect other DC components and breakers to the DC bus.

Phoenix Contact Diode Module and Terminal Block

Which L-1011 am I building?

Well, this is a topic i thought of for a quite a while now and finally I have come to a conclusion on what model L-1011 I would like to build with my garage simulator. So, here it is:

L-1011-385-1-15
Lockheed Serial Number: 193C-1244

The virtual aircraft will be configured similar to Delta Ship 740 (N740DA), which was a Delta upgrade from a L-1011-1 to a L-1011-250. The simulator will have the following characteristics:

• Passenger seating configuration is 269 total; 12 First Class, 54 Business Class and 203 Tourist
• An INS/FMS long range navigation system is installed
• A center section fuel tank is installed
• Total fuel system capacity (213,640 lb.)
• Heavy duty landing gear, brakes and wheels are installed
• Brake pedal pressure for max braking is reduced
• RB211-524B4 engines are installed
• Maximum Takeoff Gross Weight on the aircraft is 510,000 lbs.

The airframe actually still exists as of mid 2010. It is stored in Tehran, Iran. There are a number of great pictures of it sitting in the Tehran Aerospace Exhibition at Mehrabad International airport. Unfortunately the political situation in 2010 would prohibit me from actually seeing it in person. But maybe, one day relations between Iran and US will be positive again.