Intermediate Board - User Guide

Installing the Board

Installing the Intermediate Control Board is a straightforward task. It is best approached in four stages:-

1. Connecting DACs
2. Connecting Drive Controllers
3. Connecting Sensors
4. Connecting the USB module

Before making any connections, please make sure that you have located the board into a suitable protective case and that it is not connected to the USB modules.

Connecting DACs

Connecting a DAC is simply a matter of connecting up 3 wires. These instructions will assume that you are using the Classic Flight DAC. For other DACs, please refer to manufacturers guidance or if in doubt, contact us for advice.

First connect the control pin. Attach a prepared wire of suitable length from the appropriate terminal of the control pin terminal block, located on the top edge of the ICB. Each terminal is marked with the relevant drive letter CPA to CPD. Connect this wire to the WR terminal of the DAC.

Next run two wires from the OUT and GND terminals of the DAC to the relevant WIPx and 0v terminals on the right hand terminal block of the ICB. Obviously, GND connects to 0v and OUT connects to WIPx, where x is the drive letter.

Repeat for each of the DACs that you need.

Connecting Drive Controllers

Exactly how you connect your drive controller (also called Motor Control Board) will be dependant on the controller itself. The ICB has six connections for each of three possible drive controllers. You will need to work out which of the ICB terminals connects to which terminal on the drive controller. If you have doubts, please contact us and we will try to help.

The six terminals on the ICB for each drive, located along the right hand edge of the board. They are (where X is the drive letter):-

1. 0v - this will normally be connected to the Ground or GND or 0v terminal of the drive controller.
2. WipX - this is where the variable control voltage from the DAC outputs to the drive controller.
3. MaxX - this is bridged to 0v through a 10Kohm resistor
4. RevX - this is the output to the reverse circuit of the drive controller
5. IGN - this is the output to the ignition circuit of the drive controller
6. 24V - this is the input of power from the drive controller for the ignition and reverse circuits

Speed Control
Most drive controllers control the speed by use of a potentiometer wired across three terminals - GND (or 0v), the potentiometer wiper terminal and a maximum speed terminal. In this case your PC is acting as the potentiometer (via the USB module and the DAC). The drive controller is then said to be working as a voltage follower - ie the drive speed being determined by the output from the DAC, rather than via a speed potentiometer. So, you will need to look up the drive controller instructions for acting as a voltage follower.

In most cases this will mean that you connect the GND terminal of the drive controller to the 0v terminal on the ICB, and the wiper terminal on the drive controller to the WipX terminal on the ICB. Although it is not used, you will probably also need to connect the Maximum speed terminal of the drive controller to the MaxX terminal on the ICB. The instructions may also state that a resistor needs to be placed between the Max and GND (or 0v) when the drive controller is used as a voltage follower. Our ICB already includes a 10K ohm resistor in place for that purpose. You should check that is correct for your drive controller and replace if needed.

Ignition and Reverse circuits
Most drive controllers will supply a means of switching the drive power on and off - we have called this the ignition circuit. In many cases this is done by connecting a switch across the 24V and ignition terminals on the drive controller. Making this connection switches on the control circuits on the drive controller, which then apply power to the drive itself. The ICB accommodates this by taking in up to three drive controller ignition circuits and compounding them into a single circuit which can have a switch attached to it. The advantage of this arrangement is that you can switch on and off all your drives with one switch action, which can then be set up as a series of switches to protect both the platform and its occupants from unauthorised or unwanted movements.

The ignition terminals on the drive controller will need to be connected to the IGN terminal of the ICB. You will also need to connect an output of power from the drive controller to the 24V terminal of the ICB for the ignition circuit to be energised when it is switched on. Note that although the positive voltage terminal is called 24V, it can work with lower ignition circuit voltages eg 12v. Please consult before using higher ignition circuit voltage.

The centre block of terminals along the top edge of the ICB is placed for use with the ignition switch and circuit. The Ignition switch itself should be connected to the IGN and 24V terminals of that block. There is also the facility to connect an LED to the ignition circuit, so you can have a light showing when the platform drives are energised (a good safety feature). The switch and LED should be capable of taking the voltage output from your drive controller (eg 24v).

You can use the ignition switch facility to place a "daisy chain" of switches in various places around your platform - endstops, a key operated ignition switch, push button emergency stops and so on. We strongly recommend that you utilise this facility to place an adequate number of such switches on your platform.

If your drive controller requires the use of a reverse signal in order to make the drive go backwards, then this is supplied by the ICB through the RevX terminal. This reverse signal is energised when the Motion Drive software (in unipolar mode) calls for the drive to go backwards. It is energised to the voltage level of your drive controller - i.e. a 24v input to the 24V terminal will mean that the RevX terminal is energised to 24v when required. The reverse signal is also wired through the ignition circuit, so will only operate when the ignition circuit is live.

Connecting Sensors

The block of terminals for connecting your sensors is loacted along the bottom edge of the ICB. The ICB will accommodate up to four sensors for each of three axes (Roll, Pitch and Heave). The designation of the sensors is covered in the user guide for Motion Drive 3.0, so it will be assumed that you are aware of which sensors are which on the platform and what their names are. When connected to the ICB, the LED lights when the sensor switch is closed, so you should choose normally open switches for your sensors.

All sensors are assumed to be simple switches in their effect. They may be activated in a number of ways - magnetic reeds or mercury tilt types of switch, but the switching action is essentially a simple on/off action. So, all you need to do is to sort out where your sensor switches are to be located on your platform and wire them back to the ICB.

The connection that has to be made for each switch is a two-wire connection. One wire goes into the 0v terminal and the other into the terminal appropriate for the right sensor (RR or FF or whichever it is). This could mean that for 12 sensors you end up with 24 wires going back to the ICB, with a horrible great bunch of wires trying to get into the 0v terminals on the sensor terminal blocks. That would be neither neat or effective.

It is likely that your roll and pitch sensors are located quite close together on the platform. So, we have arranged the ICB so that the roll and pitch terminals are also together. Thus you can run a single 9-core cable (8 sensor wires plus 0v) from the ICB up to where your roll and pitch sensors are located, and make the connections to the actual switches locally where they are sited. Similarly, a 3 or 5-core cable run from the ICB to your heave sensors will do the same job and keep the festoons of wire to a minimum. Using multicore cable is a good way of keeping your wiring neat and comprehensible - with the different colours making identification easy.

Connecting the USB module

Having connected all your DACs, drive controllers, ignition and emergency switches and sensors, the ICB is now ready for connection through to the PC via the USB module. The three ribbon cables, with their 10-way sockets attached, have been arranged in the correct order for connection to the ports of USB module #2. The upper ribbon should be connected to port C, the middle one to port B and the lower one to port A.

You should take care when connecting the 10-way headers onto the port pins of the USB modules. Make sure that you have the pins and the sockets correctly lined up and press the socket down onto the pins gently and evenly. The pins can easily be bent if care is not taken. Also make sure that the USB module is not connected to the PC when you make or unmake the ribbon cable connections.

Once the ribbon cables are in place on the USB module, you can attach the USB cable and power up the ICB. On power up you will see the LEDs for the sensors light up. These LEDs are lit when the sensor switch is not made, and they go out when the sensor switch is made. You can test the operation of the sensors switches by making them in succession and checking that the correct LED is extinguished when the switch makes.

© Active Simulation Limited 2007

Intermediate Board User Guide version 1.0