synchros

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John Larkin 13 years ago

Synchro type parts used to be used for analog computation. There were transmitters, receivers, differentials, a whole zoo of gadgets. Now computers do the math, and synchros are mostly used as position sensors.

If you're ever in Hawaii, take a day off the beach and go to Pearl Harbor. It's impressive and very moving. You can tour the sub USS Bowfin. It has a beautiful mechanical torpedo targeting computer in a glass case, like a lethal pinball machine, full of synchros and motors and gears and cams and mechanical integrators.

There's one in San Francisco, too:

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John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com http://www.highlandtechnology.com Precision electronic instrumentation Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators Custom laser drivers and controllers Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links VME thermocouple, LVDT, synchro acquisition and simulation

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bloggs.fredbloggs.fred 13 years ago

will be clean:

F'ing ripoff , sounds worse than medical.

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Jim Thompson 13 years ago

will be clean:

When I was tech-ing at MIT Building 20, I made up a 400W Audio Power Amplifier (tooobs) with custom wound output transformer for such purposes. It could also be configured as two-phase to drive smear camera motors. ...Jim Thompson

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John Larkin 13 years ago

will be clean:

I guess if you can afford an airplane...

John Larkin Highland Technology Inc www.highlandtechnology.com jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com Precision electronic instrumentation Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators Custom timing and laser controllers Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links VME analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators

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Bill Sloman 13 years ago

That would be a "streak" camera motor. MIT is still in that business

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Bill Sloman, Sydney

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josephkk 13 years ago

Hz

frequency,

product,

voltage.

Sounds like PM DC brush motors instead.

?-)

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josephkk 13 years ago

Hz

frequency,

product,

voltage.

Only 12 bits?. That is a pretty low grade of serious. Back in my Navy days (early 1970s) 16 to 20 bits was par. Back then Interstate Electronics had a resolver tracking bridge that did the first (least linear) 16 most significant bits and the residue was sent to a 16-bit ADC for about 26 bits real resolution and accuracy, the digitized residue was sent back to the bridge so that it could better linearize the residue. Bandwidth wasn't much though, maybe 20 Hz.

Oh, you might get yourself some Farrand(?) Inductosyns(tm) which have really astounding accuracy, resolution and repeatability. They will set you back a few though.

?-)

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John Larkin 13 years ago

product,

Actual synchros are typically accurate to 5 or 10 arc-minutes, which is around

12 bits. We'll use 16 bits for synchro simulation and acquisition, but I doubt we'll get much better than 12 real bits of accuracy in a real-world situation. The positions of the throttle levers in a jet plane, or wing flap positions, don't need to be transmitted to arc-second accuracy.

We're doing synchro acquisition and simulation for aerospace folks, to help them test their gear.

John Larkin Highland Technology Inc www.highlandtechnology.com jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com Precision electronic instrumentation Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators Custom timing and laser controllers Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links VME analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators

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synchros

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