A NEXT GENERATION AIRCRAFT POWER MONITORING SYSTEM

Abstract

Historically, aircraft power monitoring has required the use of multiple signal conditioning functions to measure various parameters including voltage, current, frequency and phase. This information was then post processed to determine the characteristics of the 3-phase power quality on the aircraft. Recent developments in embedded DSP processors within signalconditioning systems provide the instrumentation engineer with expanded capabilities for realtime on-board power quality monitoring. Advantages include reduced space and bandwidth requirements and minimal wiring intrusion. For each phase, output data may include peak positive and negative voltages and currents, peak-to-peak, average and RMS voltages and currents, phase power (real and apparent), phase power factor, phase period (frequency), phase shift measurement from phase 1 (the reference phase) to phase 2, and from phase 1 to phase 3. In addition, a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is performed on each phase voltage to provide Total Harmonic Distortion measurements. This paper describes the methods employed in the implementation of these functions on a single signal-conditioning card in order to provide detailed information about the power quality of a three-phase aircraft power source.