Aircraft engine horsepower display

[Dkcorey]

I am trying to design an on-board horsepower display for an experimental aircraft.

The parameters that determine engine power are RPM, manifold pressure, altitude, temperature and mixture. Each of these parameters is currently monitored and displayed individually in the airplane and the signal output levels are known.

Each of the parameters have a different effect on engine horsepower. The formulae for the horsepower solution have been developed and I can input the values into a spreadsheet and generate the desired result.

What I want to do is feed these signals into a processor, have the processor do the computations, and display the result on either an analog or digital display.

Thanks for any assistance,

David

 

[enosis_]

Will the result then control another function?

 

[Dkcorey]

No, I just want to display engine power output on a panel gauge

 

[dlgoff]

...signal output levels are known.

I take it they are analog signals? If so, I would be curious to know the details of each (the parameters sensor/transducer outputs); voltage or current, signal range and resolution, sensor/transducer accuracy and precision, high and low alarm limits, etc. Also, what kind of accuracy you'll accept for you final reading? Could the equation relating all these parameters to the engines Horse Power be solved through analog circuitry?

 

[HowlerMonkey]

You can make a live data application.

I would use a 0-5v sensor that senses movement and incorporate it to measure engine deflection.

The tough part is dampening the engine movments...or using a smoothing algorithm on the engine movment datastream.

You will need to spend time with a torque wrench to forcefully deflect the engine in order to calibrate it and then create a "look up file" as well as an application that uses the sensor input to generate a visual readout.

I recommend the DLP designs IO8 which has 8 channels of acquisition and hooks into a laptop usb port.