170 lines
6.2 KiB
Text
170 lines
6.2 KiB
Text
Specifying and Configuring and Aircraft Electrical System
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=========================================================
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Written by Curtis L. Olson <http://www.flightgear.org/~curt>
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February 3, 2003 - Initial revision.
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Introduction
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============
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The FlightGear electrical system model is an approximation. We don't
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model down to the level of individual electrons, but we do try to
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model a rich enough subset of components so that a realistic (from the
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pilot's perspective) electrical system may be implemented. We try to
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model enough of the general flow so that typical electrical system
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failures can be implimented and so that the pilot can practice
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realistic troubleshooting techniques and learn the basic structure and
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relationships of the real aircraft electrical system.
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An electrical system can be built from 4 major components: suppliers,
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buses, outputs, and connectors. Suppliers are things like batteries
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and generators. Buses collect input from multiple suppliers and feed
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multiple outputs. Outputs are not strictly necessary, but are
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included so we can name generic output types and provide a consistent
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naming scheme to other FlightGear subsystems. Finally connectors
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connect a supplier to a bus, or a bus to an output, and optionally can
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specify a switch property (either a physical switch or a circuit
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breaker.)
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At run time, the structure specified in the electrical system config
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file is parsed and a directional graph (in the computer science sense)
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is built. Each frame, the current is propagated through the system,
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starting at the suppliers, flowing through the buses, and finally to
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the outputs. The system follows the path of connectors laid out in
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the config file and honors the state of any connector switch.
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Suppliers
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=========
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A supplier entry could look like the following:
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<supplier>
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<name>Battery 1</name>
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<prop>/systems/electrical/suppliers/battery[0]</prop>
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<kind>battery</kind>
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<volts>24</volts>
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<amps>60</amps> <!-- WAG -->
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</supplier>
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<name> can be anything you choose to call this entry.
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<prop> is the name of a property that will be updated with the state
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of this supplier.
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<kind> can be "battery", "alternator", or "external".
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<volts> specifies the volts of the source
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<amps> specifies the amps of the source
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Currently <volts> and <amps> are not really modeled in detail. This
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is more of a place holder for the future.
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For alternators, you must additionally specify:
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<rpm-source>/engines/engine[0]/rpm</rpm-source>
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The value of the rpm source determines if the generator is able to
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produce power or not.
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Buses
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=====
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A bus entry could look like the following:
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<bus>
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<name>Essential/Cross Feed Bus</name>
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<prop>/systems/electrical/outputs/bus-essential</prop>
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<prop>/systems/electrical/outputs/annunciators</prop>
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<prop>/systems/electrical/outputs/master-switch</prop>
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</bus>
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<name> is whatever you choose to call this bus
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You can have an arbitrary number of <prop> entries. Each entry is the
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name of a property that will be updated with the value of the current
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at that bus. This allows you to wire devices directly to the bus but
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does not allow you to insert a switch or circuit breaker in between.
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See "Outputs" and "Connectors" if you want to do that.
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Outputs
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=======
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An output entry could look like the following:
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<output>
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<name>Starter 1 Power</name>
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<prop>/systems/electrical/outputs/starter[0]</prop>
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</output>
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An output isn't entirely unlike a bus, but it's nice conceptually to
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have a separate entity type. This enables us to specify a common set
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of output property names so that other subsystems can automatically
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work with any electrical system that follows the same conventions. An
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output lives on the other side of a switch, so this is how you can
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wire in cockpit switches to model things like fuel pump power,
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avionics master switch, or any other switch on the panel.
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<name> is whatever you choose to call this bus
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You can have an arbitrary number of <prop> entries. Each entry is the
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name of a property that will be updated with the value of the current
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at that bus. This allows you to wire devices directly to the bus but
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does not allow you to insert a switch or circuit breaker in between.
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See "Outputs" and "Connectors" if you want to do that.
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Other FlightGear subsystems can monitor the property name associated
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with the various outputs to decide how to render an instrument,
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whether to run the fuel pump, whether to spin a gyro, or any other
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subsystem that cares about electrical power.
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Connectors
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==========
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An connector entry could look like the following:
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<connector>
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<input>Alternator 1</input>
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<output>Virtual Bus 1</output>
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<switch>/controls/switches/master-alt</switch>
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<initial-state>off</initial-state> <!-- optional tag -->
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</connector>
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A connector specifies and input, and output, and any number of
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switches that are wired in series. In other words, all switches need
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to be true/on in order for current to get from the input to the output
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of the connector.
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<input> specifies the <name> of the input. Typically you would
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specify a "supplier" or a "bus".
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<output> specifies the <name> of the output. Typically you would
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specify a bus or an output.
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You can have an arbitrary number of <switch> entries. The switches
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are wired in series so all of them need to be on (i.e. true) in order
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for current to pass to the output.
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Note: by default the system forces any listed switches to be true.
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The assumption is that not every aircraft or cockpit may impliment
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every available switch, so rather than having systems be switched off,
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with no way to turn them on, we default to switched on.
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This is a problem however with the starter switch which we want to be
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initialized to "off". To solve this problem you can specify
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<initial-state>off</initial-state> or
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<initial-state>on</initial-state> Switches default to on, so you
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really only need to specify this tag if you want the connector's
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switch to default to off.
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Summary
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=======
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The electrical system has a lot of power and flexibility to model a
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variety of electrical systems. However, it is not yet perfect or
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finished. One major weakness is that it doesn't yet model degraded
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battery or generator power, and it doesn't model the "charge" of the
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batteries in case of a generator failure.
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