Adevelopment of an Advanced Pressure Signal Acquisition Card for a Modular Turbojet Fadec System

Abstract

Gas turbine engines are very important in aviation. Pressure is one of the key thermodynamic parameters which, first of all, suffers radical change within the flow passage of a gas turbine, on the other hand, there are several accessories like fuel and oil supply, in which the pressure of the working medium is essential. The measurement of this variable is therefore inevitable in data acquisition or engine control systems. The author shows the process of development of an advanced pressure signal acquisition card that fits into a modular electronic control system of a turbojet engine. The unit incorporates numerous experiences gathered with the previous generation of this module regarding power supply and integrated sensors as well. Furthermore, there are several innovations that enable a more efficient installation, data acquisition and built-in test possibilities. The most important difference is the 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0+ microcontroller which allows faster operation which allows the acquisition of more signals, including additional functions as thrust measurement, digital input/output handling and many others. The unit operation was thoroughly assessed using simulated and real operating conditions as well.