NAME: _______________________________________________ ME 338: CONTROL ENGINEERING

1. Describe the basic construction and theory of operation of a synchro equipment.

A synchro equipment consists of synchro units. There are five types of synchros namely transmitters,
differential transmitters, receivers, differential receivers, and control transformers. The transmitter, or
synchro generator, consists of a rotor with a single winding and a stator with three windings placed 120
degrees apart. The receiver, or synchro motor, is electrically similar to the synchro generator. The synchro
receiver uses the voltage generated by each of the synchro generator windings to position the receiver rotor.
Differential synchros are used with transmitter and receiver synchros to insert a second signal. The angular
positions of the transmitter and the differential synchros are compared, and the difference or sum is
transmitted to the receiver. Control transformer synchros are used when only a voltage indication of angular
position is desired. It is similar in construction to an ordinary synchro except that the rotor windings are used
only to generate a voltage which is known as an error voltage.
The theory of operation of synchro equipment involves the transmitter shaft being turned. When the
transmitter’s shaft is turned, the synchro receiver’s shaft turns such that its "electrical position" is the same as
the transmitter’s. What this means is that when the transmitter is turned to electrical zero, the synchro
receiver also turns to zero. If the transmitter is disconnected from the synchro receiver and then reconnected,
its shaft will turn to correspond to the position of the transmitter shaft.

2. Describe the following position indicators to include basic construction and theory of
operation.
a. Potentiometer

The potentiometer consists of a long resistive wire L made up of magnum or with

constantan and a battery of known EMF V. This voltage is called driver cell voltage.
Connect the two ends of the resistive wire L to the battery terminals as shown below; let
us assume this is a primary circuit arrangement.
One terminal of another cell (whose EMF E is to be measured) is at one end of the
primary circuit and another end of the cell terminal is connected to any point on the
resistive wire through a galvanometer G.

The basic working principle of this is based on the fact that the fall of the potential
across any portion of the wire is directly proportional to the length of the wire, provided
wire has a uniform cross-sectional area and the constant current flowing through
it.“When there is no potential difference between any two nodes there is electric current
will flow”.

b. Linear Variable Differential Transformer (LVDT)

The basic construction of the LVDT  is shown below in the figure. The P is the
primary winding of the LVDT and  S1 and S2 are the secondary winding of the
transformer. The secondary winding is wound on the cylindrical former. The
secondary winding has an equal number of turns, and it is placed identically on both
the side of the primary winding.

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NAME: _______________________________________________ ME 338: CONTROL ENGINEERING

The LVDT works on mutual induction principle. The current is applied to the primary
winding which produces the magnetic field, and this field induces the current in the
secondary windings.

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