Building an electronic Angle of Attack indicator

Well of course, the best is to use an AOA vane, like the jets use. The
biggest problem is where the jets conveniently mount it on the side of
the fuselage, on most singles, that's right in the prop blast,
rendering it useless. If you could find someplace to mount it outside
of the prop blast, then it would work great. But finding that
place......

On Sat, 9 May 2009 05:30:37 -0700 (PDT), Mike
wrote:

Has anyone built an electronic angle of attack meter kit. It seems to
be something that would be easy to design but beyond my feeble
electronics background.

I have seen the products that are out there and they are simple
differential pressure gauges and are expensive. I don't like the
round differential pressure gauges that many of the companies offer
for this kind of system. I was wondering if there would be a way to
put something together that would light up different color LED's for
the different levels of lift that we could build at home without
having to pay out hundreds of dollars for a prebuilt one.

rich wrote:
Well of course, the best is to use an AOA vane, like the jets use. The
biggest problem is where the jets conveniently mount it on the side of
the fuselage, on most singles, that's right in the prop blast,
rendering it useless. If you could find someplace to mount it outside
of the prop blast, then it would work great. But finding that
place......


Kitplanes once did an article on a boom mounted vane called "bacon
saver." No reason a similar set up couldn't be used.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

In article , rich wrote:
Well of course, the best is to use an AOA vane, like the jets use. The
biggest problem is where the jets conveniently mount it on the side of
the fuselage, on most singles, that's right in the prop blast,
rendering it useless. If you could find someplace to mount it outside
of the prop blast, then it would work great. But finding that
place......


I would like to see a vain mounted on each wingtip with two indicators on the
glareshield.

I'd like to see how much difference there is in AA from one side to the other
during steep turns, slow turns, and less than perfect rudder work.

who cares? schreef:
I would like to see a vain mounted on each wingtip

Great idea, yes. Any preference of vains in the glossy magazines?
For myself I'd much like Madonna and Prince - if they are more or less
balanced.



(or could it be you meant a couple of vanes? That's a whole another
story...)

jan olieslagers wrote:
who cares? schreef:
I would like to see a vain mounted on each wingtip

Great idea, yes. Any preference of vains in the glossy magazines?
For myself I'd much like Madonna and Prince - if they are more or less
balanced.



(or could it be you meant a couple of vanes? That's a whole another
story...)

Could be worse. He could have said 'veins' ;-)

--
Frank Stutzman
Bonanza N494B "Hula Girl"
Boise, ID

Frank Stutzman wrote:
jan olieslagers wrote:
who cares? schreef:
I would like to see a vain mounted on each wingtip
Great idea, yes. Any preference of vains in the glossy magazines?
For myself I'd much like Madonna and Prince - if they are more or less
balanced.



(or could it be you meant a couple of vanes? That's a whole another
story...)

Could be worse. He could have said 'veins' ;-)


Vain vanes, something in that vein?

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

"who cares?" wrote in message
...
In article , rich
wrote:
Well of course, the best is to use an AOA vane, like the jets use. The
biggest problem is where the jets conveniently mount it on the side of
the fuselage, on most singles, that's right in the prop blast,
rendering it useless. If you could find someplace to mount it outside
of the prop blast, then it would work great. But finding that
place......


I would like to see a vain mounted on each wingtip with two indicators on
the
glareshield.

I'd like to see how much difference there is in AA from one side to the
other
during steep turns, slow turns, and less than perfect rudder work.

Sounds like an interesting idea. Encoding the position of the vane would be
needed. One way might be to use minature shaft angle optical encoders ( I
tend to think digitally as opposed to analog) . I've seen prices as low as
$20 each. Put one on each wing tip mounted vane and as Jim says the rest is
easy. (If you know some good electronic tech). If you know the AoA for
stall, the output of the encoder could be compared to a preset number and an
alarm into the head set could easily be produced digitally. I've used a
combination of a modification of one of Jim's circuits produced for
Kitplanes along with some additional digital circuitry for a High/Low
helicopter rotor speed alarm and it works great.



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Stuart Fields wrote:
"who cares?" wrote in message
...
In article , rich
wrote:
Well of course, the best is to use an AOA vane, like the jets use. The
biggest problem is where the jets conveniently mount it on the side of
the fuselage, on most singles, that's right in the prop blast,
rendering it useless. If you could find someplace to mount it outside
of the prop blast, then it would work great. But finding that
place......

I would like to see a vain mounted on each wingtip with two indicators on
the
glareshield.

I'd like to see how much difference there is in AA from one side to the
other
during steep turns, slow turns, and less than perfect rudder work.

Sounds like an interesting idea. Encoding the position of the vane would be
needed. One way might be to use minature shaft angle optical encoders ( I
tend to think digitally as opposed to analog) . I've seen prices as low as
$20 each. Put one on each wing tip mounted vane and as Jim says the rest is
easy. (If you know some good electronic tech). If you know the AoA for
stall, the output of the encoder could be compared to a preset number and an
alarm into the head set could easily be produced digitally. I've used a
combination of a modification of one of Jim's circuits produced for
Kitplanes along with some additional digital circuitry for a High/Low
helicopter rotor speed alarm and it works great.



Good idea, you can use a DIP switch (do they still call them that?)
to set your alarm point.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

"rich" wrote

Well of course, the best is to use an AOA vane, like the jets use. The
biggest problem is where the jets conveniently mount it on the side of
the fuselage, on most singles, that's right in the prop blast,
rendering it useless. If you could find someplace to mount it outside
of the prop blast, then it would work great. But finding that
place......

On a mast like a pitot tube, out on the wing.

I propose 4 or 5 microswitches with a mechanical linkage to go from the vane
to the switches in the wing. Send the signal to some led's, and you are
done. Cheap and easy.
--
Jim in NC

Morgans wrote:
"rich" wrote

Well of course, the best is to use an AOA vane, like the jets use. The
biggest problem is where the jets conveniently mount it on the side of
the fuselage, on most singles, that's right in the prop blast,
rendering it useless. If you could find someplace to mount it outside
of the prop blast, then it would work great. But finding that
place......

On a mast like a pitot tube, out on the wing.

I propose 4 or 5 microswitches with a mechanical linkage to go from the vane
to the switches in the wing. Send the signal to some led's, and you are
done. Cheap and easy.


That should be fun to calibrate, but once everything is secured it
should be reliable.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired