GYROSCOPES

GYROSCOPES
The name gyroscope comes from the Greek words:
Gyros means rotation
Scope in means to view
A literal translation is thus to view rotation
which is a good description of the function of the
instrument
Gyroscope is basically an angular motion sensor.

 Gyros with 3 plane of freedom have 2 gimbals and

total freedom of movement around 3 axes.
Gyroscope has 3 degrees of freedom
(i) spinning freedom(XX')
(ii) tilting freedom(YY')
(iii) veering freedom(ZZ')

A gyro essentially measures rate of rotation

about a specific axis of the aircraft and thus
measures the attitude of the aircraft namely
pitch, roll and yaw angles derived after
integration of the rate of rotation.

A horizontal axis gyroscope is used to

measure the heading angle of the aircraft. This
gyro is known as Directional Gyroscope(DG)

 Gyroscopic instruments are of great importance in

aircraft navigation because of their ability to
maintain a constant spatial reference and thereby
provide indication of aircraft's attitude.
The Principal instruments that use properties of
gyroscope are
1.Directional gyro
2.Artificial horizon or attitude indicator
3.Turn and bank indicator

Principle of conservation of
angular momentum
The angular momentum of a body about a given
point remains constant unless some force is
applied to change it.
Angular momentum is the product of mass
moment of inertia I and angular velocity .
L=I

GYROSCOPIC PROPERTIES

A gyroscope essentially consists of a highspeed rotor with large moment of inertia.

The rotor, due to conservation of angular

Momentum maintains special orientation, unless
acted upon by an external torque.

A Gyro possesses two distinct properties:

(a) Rigidity

and (b) Precision

(a) Rigidity: Rigidity or gyroscopic Inertia, is the

property of a gyroscope which causes it to continue to
rotate in the same plane. It therefore follows that, in
the absence of any external force, the spin axis will
continue to point to the same position in space to
which it was originally set.
Rigidity should be as high as possible and it is high when
(a).the mass of rotor is large.
(b).the radius of gyration, R is large.
(c).the speed of the rotor is high.

(b) Precession
This behavior, where the application of a torque about
an axis orthogonal to the spin axis causes the rotor to
rotate about a third axis which is mutually orthogonal
to both the applied torque axis and the spin axis is
called precession.
Precession is the change in the plane of rotation of
rotor, due to an externally applied force.

The property of precession is to do with the

angular change in direction of the plane of rotation
under the influence of an applied force.

Precession rate is
1.Directly proportional to the applied force.
2.Inversely proportional to the moment of inertia
and
3.Inversely proportional to speed of the
rotor(angular velocity).

GYROSCOPIC PRECESSION(I)

GYROSCOPIC PRECESSION(II)

REFERENCES ESTABLISHED BY GYROSCOPES

Errors in Directional gyroscope

There are three sources of error, which makes

DG drift with respect to time.

The errors are due to

1.Friction in bearing used, real drift.

2.Earth's rotation e (15/hour),apparent drift

and
3.Aircraft movement-''transport wander''

DRIFT AND TRANSPORT WANDER

Limitations of gyroscope

Gimbal lock: It occurs when the spin axis XX'

becomes the same as one of the other axes of
freedom. In such a case the DG would lose that
Spin axis no useful data is possible along the
spin axis. In this locked condition, DG turns as
a whole causing precession and toppling.

Gimbal errors: It occurs when the orthogonality

of XX', YY and ZZ' axes are no longer
maintained. This error is serious particularly in
DG.

Turn and bank indicator

Turn and Bank indicator,displays,in a single

instrument both:

Turn rate, in degrees per second, using

precession torque,and

Bank and/or slip, using a ball in a curved glass

tube.

Turn Indicator

Turn indicator uses a rate gyroscope to sense the

rate of turn

Rate gyroscope has

only one gimbal ring, free to rotate about
longitudinal axis ZZ' of the aircraft(single axis
gyroscope).
A rotor whose spin axis (XX') is aligned to the
lateral axis of the aircraft. Rotor speed is 5000
rpm.
A calibrated spring between the gimbal and casing
which is screwed on to the aircraft structure.

When the instrument is in its normal operating

condition, due to the spring restraint the rotor
spin axis will always be horizontal and the turn
pointer will be at zero datum mark.

 The precession of a rate gyroscope is given by

P=L d/dt
d

Where L=angular momentum=IXX

IXX is the moment of inertia around XX1,spin axis
and d/dt=rate of turn-yaw rate.
If L is essentially held constant,and this means
constant rotor speed,then the precession force P is
given by
Pd/dtx
The pointer reaches new null when P=Kx
Where k is spring constant and x is the
displacement of spring.

The graduations on scale represent rate of turn

graded 1 to 4 and correspond to turn rates of
180,360,540 and 720 per minute respectively.

A damping dash pot is usually included to damp

out oscillations during faster turns.

The rate gyro does not need an erecting

mechanism as in DG, since the verticality of the
pointer is ensured at null (0) position by the
springs. This also means, the rigidity requirement
is not as high either.

The actual movement of the gimbal ring from the

zero or rest position can be taken as the required
measure of turn rate.

Bank Indicator