Engine Instruments

by
Santhosh Kumar
Dept.of EIE
SVEC

04/22/2020 1
AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION
 so far instruments related to cockpit
only were discussed, here we are
going to discuss the instruments
related to engine

 These are the instruments placed in

MIP(main Instrument Panel of
aircraft)

 By using these instruments pilot can

able know about the health and
condition of aircraft

04/22/2020 2
AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION
 Not only the monitoring of altitude,
speed, direction, climb rate etc… of
an aircraft not sufficient

 Pilot should also know about Engine

Speed, torque in the shaft, pressure,
temperature monitoring also
necessary

 These measurement and monitoring

can be done by engine instruments

04/22/2020 3
AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION
  In order to measure these parameters
several electrical transducers are
there , which can convert these
physical parameters in to
appropriate electrical form and
passing through signal conditioners
of different stages and displayed in
Main Instrumentation panel
ultimately(this technology is called as
fly by wire technology)

04/22/2020 4
AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION
Speed Measurement
 Measurement of speed can be done by
Tachometer. This is a transducer which
converts shaft rotation in to an
electrical signal which in turns display
the number of rotations per
minute(either in analog or digital from).

 They are broadly categorized in two

types
 1. electrical generator coupled to indicator
 2. Tacho Probe (optical/magnetic) indicator

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 5

Contd… (Speed Measurement)
Electrical Tacho Generator or Indicator

The figure shows the shaft speed measurement using tachometer.

04/22/2020 6
AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION
Contd… (Speed Measurement)
Electrical Tacho Generator or Indicator
 How a real time tachometer is
appears in an aircraft

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 7

Contd… (Speed Measurement)
Servo Type RPM Indicator

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 8

Contd… (Speed Measurement)
Servo Type RPM Indicator

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 9

Contd… (Speed Measurement)
Servo Type RPM Indicator

The above figure show various waveforms

of TG Sensor

04/22/2020 10
AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION
Contd… (Speed Measurement)
Non Contact Type RPM Indicator
 A variable-reluctance tacho generator is a sensor which is
based on Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction.

 It consists of a ferromagnetic toothed wheel attached to the

rotating shaft and a coil wound onto a permanent magnet
extended by a soft iron pole piece.

 The wheel rotates in close proximity to the pole piece, thus

causing the flux linked by the coil to change.

 The change in flux causes an output in the coil similar to a

square waveform whose frequency depends on the speed of
the rotation of the wheel and the number of teeth.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUZTD3kY7yw

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 11

Contd… (Speed Measurement)
Non Contact Type RPM Indicator

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 12

Contd… (Speed Measurement)
Optical Tachometer
The light from them tachometer falls on the
surface and gets reflected back to the
detector on the tachometer

The detector detects the changes in

frequency of the reflected light as reflected
alternately by the object surface and the
contrast spot. The number of frequency
changes per unit time gives the speed of
rotation of the object. AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 13
Contd… (Speed Measurement)
Hall Effect Tachometer
 A Hall effect sensor is a device that is used to measure the
magnitude of a magnetic field. Its output voltage is directly
proportional to the magnetic field strength through it. Hall
effect sensors are used for proximity sensing, positioning,
speed detection, and current sensing applications.

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 14

Contd… (Speed Measurement)
Hall Effect Tachometer

•The magnetic field changes a tiny bit each

time a tooth on the gear goes by.
•This causes a tiny change in the voltage
across the hall sensor.
•The tiny change in voltage is amplified, then
fed through a comparator that outputs a nice
square edged signal each time it detects a
tooth. AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 15
Torque Measurement
 Torque forms part of the basic specification of an
engine: the power output of an engine is
expressed as its torque multiplied by its
rotational speed of the axis.

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 16

Contd… (Torque Measurement)

 Hydero Mechanical Transducer

 Electronic Torque meter s
 EM Torque meter
 Strain Gauge Torque meter

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 17

Contd… (Torque Measurement)
Hydro Mechanical Transducer

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 18

Contd… (Torque Measurement)
Strain Gauge Torque meter

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 19

Contd… (Torque Measurement)
Electromagnetic Torque meter

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 20

Contd… (Torque Measurement)
Electromagnetic Torque meter

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 21

Pressure Measurement

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 22

Engine fuel Indicator system

There are primarily two fuel parameter s which

should be continuously measured, indicated
and to be monitored by pilots
 Fuel Quantity
 Fuel Flow rate

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 23

Contd…
Fuel Quantity Indicator
this was located in cockpit of flight and enables pilot
 to flow the aircraft with at optimum efficiency
 To estimate fuuel required for the remaining flight
 Compare the previous and presnt engine performance

There are two types of fuel quantity measurements

 volumetric, using capacitance probes
 By determine the weight, which is more accurate

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 24

Contd… Fuel Quantity Indicator
Volumetric Fuel quantity Indicator (FQI)
 Basically the fuel level in the fuel tank is
measured by using capacitance probe based on
variations of dielectric constants of fuel and air

 This change in capacitance can be detected in

a capacitance bridge which is rebalanced using
a variable resistance servo motor

 The servo motor also drives the FQI located in

the cockpit along with other engine indicators

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 25

Contd… Fuel Quantity Indicator
Volumetric Fuel quantity Indicator (FQI)

 It is evident that a typical FQI

consists of
 1. capacitance type level sensor
 2.servo system
 3.Fuel quantity indicator

 Each component can be described in

detail

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 26

Contd… Fuel Quantity Indicator
Volumetric Fuel quantity Indicator (FQI)

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 27

Contd… Fuel Quantity Indicator
Volumetric Fuel quantity Indicator (FQI)

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 28

Electronic Flight Instrument System(EFIS)
Flight Director system(computer)

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 29

(to be contd…) EFIS
Flight Director system(computer)

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 30

to be contd… EFIS
Flight Director system(computer)

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 31

to be contd… EFIS
Attitude director Indicator

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 32

to be contd… EFIS
Attitude director Indicator

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 33

to be contd… EFIS
Attitude director Indicator

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 34

to be contd… EFIS
Horizontal situation Indicator

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 35

to be contd… EFIS
Horizontal situation Indicator

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 36

Black box (CVR and FDR)

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 37

CVR

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 38

CVR and its salient
features

AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTATION 04/22/2020 39