GB655823A - Improvements in and relating to erecting devices for gyroscopes - Google Patents

Abstract

655,823. Automatic control systems for gyroscopes. OFFICE NATIONAL D'ETUDES ET DE RECHERCHES AERONAUTIQUES. Nov. 10, 1948, No. 29256. Convention date, Dec. 23, 1947. [Class 38 (iv)] [Also in Group XX] A gyrovertical 1, Fig. 1, has pendulums 7, 11 mounted about the pitch and roll axes which control, by means of potentiometers 9, 13, the application of erecting torques by the torque motors 10, 14, respectively. The roll pendulum 11 carries a mass 16 capable of sliding against the action of a spring 17 and bearing a contact 18 for a potentiometer 19. The potentiometer is provided with a further contact 18a, Fig. 2, whose position is adjusted so that with gravity alone acting on the mass 16 no potential difference exists across 18, 18a. In the presence of centrifugal acceleration, mass 16 moves against the action of the spring 17 and the resulting voltage across 18, 18a is amplified by amplifier 20 and applied to a torque motor 15 which rotates shaft 3a and hence the pendulum 11 into the position it would occupy under the influence of gravity alone. A further pendulum 22 having brushes 23 movable over conducting segments 21 determines the sense in which the voltage is applied to the amplifier 20 in order to energize the torque motor 15 in the appropriate direction to restore the pendulum 11 to the true vertical.