[time-nuts] OT - DC-10 gyros
Bill Ezell
wje at quackers.net
Wed Mar 27 20:40:22 UTC 2013
Well, I can come up with something topical, read on. :)
I saw a 'Bendix yaw-rate gyro' on FleaBay recently for $14.50. Of
course, I had to buy it.
What I got was the yaw-rate gyro package from a Northwest Airlines DC-10
that was stripped for parts around 2000. The gyro included the pull tag
with tail number, the license number of the A&P mechanic that pulled it,
and some other cool stuff.
What it turned out to really be is two gyros with two sets of
electronics in one box about 6" x 2" x 5" box, all vintage '80s or so.
Even better, it's a strapdown system. The actual gyro wheel is about the
size of your thumbnail. I've just started tracing things out, and I've
gotten the gyros to spin up. I really love mechanical gyros for some
reason, too bad there's not a gyro-nuts group. I'm going to have great
fun getting the package traced out and running.
So, to be a bit more topical, the package of course needs 28V 400Hz for
the gyros, 28VDC for something, and +/-15V for most of the electronics.
Question - anyone figured out some clever solution for the 400Hz power?
I faked it with a signal generator and power amp, but that's a bit
bulky. I'm thinking I'll use one of the class-D amp ICs and a simple
op-amp phase-shift sine generator.
Topical in a more abstract way, strapdown systems really are very
interesting. They require precise integration of the rate output over
time to derive velocity and position, and really weren't practical until
the 70's when small enough computers existed to do the requisite
calculations. (I worked on the nav system for the Trident missile back
in my Draper Labs days).
--
Bill Ezell
----
They said 'Windows or better'
so I used Linux.
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