"Del Johnson, North Point Solutions, Inc" wrote:
I have been making good progress on the development of a
cockpit management
system designed primarily monitor the engine parameters for the
Mazda that
is mounted to my Glastar. I will be using a couple CypressMicro Psoc
processors to feed a Matrix Orbital 4 row/20 column Vacuum Fluorescent
Display and to monitor all of the sensors. I have successfully
written the
software to talk to the display using I2C serial communications and have
interfaced with a PIC SPI EEProm memory chip. The system is capable of
capturing in-flight data using as may EEprom memory chips that
are needed.
I plan to implement a RS232 serial connection to be used for entering
calibration and display data. The CypressMicro system has programable
firmware integrated into the Psoc chip that allows you to
configure digital
and analog building blocks using GUI tools. The same type of
digital block
that is used for SPI communications can be redesignated as a
UART/Rx8/Tx8
module. The Analog blocks can be configures as op-amps, DAC, ADC, etc.
Once these blocks are configured that operate independantly of
the CPU (the
blocks need data sent to them and read from them and they can
interupt the
cpu when their function is complete such as sending a character out the
serial line). I end up writing very little code, usually a
start command,
read or write a value type command and sometimes a stop command
plus setting
up and managing the loop.
Anyway, I'm at the point of configuring and wiring up the pressure and
temperature sensors. I started to make a list of what I would like to
monitor though this system. I'm sure that I have left a couple
things out
so I thought I as for help from the other builders.
Here is what I have so far:
Temperature Sensors:
Water (one sensor per return line for each heat
exchanger - I or others may
have two)
Oil Temperature (located on the return side of the heat
exchanger)
OAT
EGT
Pressure Sensors
oil
water
Fuel Pressure (2 - for each fuel rail)
Air Pressure (Pitot & Static)
Duct Sensors ( at least two for inflight data capture )
Voltage (battery)
Amperage (battery)
RPM
Hobbs Meter
Fuel
Fuel burn (obtain data from Tracy's EC2
Tank Level (Capacitive type sensors)
Fuel Empty Sensors
Please feel free to comment on the list. If I get this working
and tested
out in my plane I might try to produce it commercially for
other builders.
Right now it is being customized for the Rotary engine but the
pressure and
sensor inputs can be adapted for other engine installations.
Del if you have the capacity water & oil temps into and out of
the rads would be
handy. Also air temps in and out of the rads.
This would give us a handle on how well the cooling system
is working. Also a few pressure measurements around the radiators
would indicate how well the scoops and ducts are working.
I would also like to see cylinder head temperature down next to
the combustion chamber adjacent to the lower spark plugs.