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FSXA Airbus A350 XWB

Dutcheeseblend said:
Thanks for the story :D
Click to expand...

Guess how I got the idea? :D I'm gonna tell something about the electric systems next lithium-ion and Nickel-cadmium batteries and such, and the influence the 787s battery incidents had on the Airbus development ;)
 
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Marc L said:
I will come bach on NWWW asap ;)
stopped here: http://avianascenery.blogspot.com/
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Glad to hear your back to developing ;)

Now about the electrical system.
The aircraft is powered by four sources, each operating individually and at various stages of flight. The first one ofcourse is the EPU (or GPU for Ground Power Unit), which is connected to aircraft while stationary with the engines turned off. The EPU would officially be classified as "Ground Service Equipment" as it's not part of the aircraft and in most cases feautures the logo of the service company or the airport. The next powerplant is the APU. It's turned on when the aircraft is nearing the pushback to prepare for the release of the EPU and to start the next source, the main generators in the engines. The APU-design is different from previous Airbus aircraft (specifically the A320-family) wchich feautued an intake beteeth the Tail and the opening to the rear. The APU on this aircraft feautures a design similar to that on the Boeing 777, thus a bigger intake near the rudder with the intake facing the direction of flight (thanks to Roel who noted this to me).
The APU should on it's turn give enough "electricity" (because we all know that word isn't a meausurable unit or anything, though this Honeywell HGT1700 produces 1,268 kW) to start the main generators located in the engines. This is supposed to be a smooth transition, however I've noticed on older Airbus models (specifically the A320-family aircraft) that the transistion tends to be rather crued with a cabin light-out of about a second on the switch between APU and main generators. I have however never flown on an A350 so I can't say if the same things tends to happen on the A350.

The last official source (but not a generator) are the batteries. They where supposed to be Lithium-Ion instead of conventional Nickel-cadmium batteries. However in light of the Boeing 787s Lithium-Ion batteries catching fire, which lead to the grounding of the 787 fleet in January 2013, Airbus decided that for the time being the A350 would receive Nickel-cadmium batteries. This does not mean that the idea of Lithium-Ion batteries has been whipped of the charts, Airbus is still testing the batteries that where intended to be fitted in the aircraft (and this is one of the reasons why the aircraft are still being tested at Toulouse) and Airbus will probably retro-fit existing A350s as soon as the Lithium-Ion batteries enter service with aircraft still in production. The Batteries are, just like on other commercial jetliners, primarilly ment for emergency use in case the main generators (or the APU) fails. In this case the system will reduce the electrical use of the aircraft to a bare minimum, control surfaces and primary flight instruments. Now I don't know what exactly happens in that scenario but I would assume it's similar to the Boeing systems in which only the Captains primary flight instruments stay on.

The final resource for power is the RAT (Ram Air Turbine). It's to be used in extreme emergencies, when the batteries will not contain enough energy to reach the nearest airport. The RAT is a simple device that can be deployed in flight at speed. It simply is a windmill type of construction that comes out of the main fusalage. Through the airflow around the aircraft it then generates electricity to power the cockpit and the flight control sufaces, however it is not a comfortable way of flying since the pilots will then only have the bare minimum of their instruments. The RAT has proven itself as a life saver in the Air Transat 236 incident, where an Airbus A330-200 glides for more then 130 Miles with the RAT as it's lifeline.

On the the 3D representation. The model will feature three of these systems, namely the GPU/EPU, the APU and the RAT. The other systems are not vissible.

The GPU/EPU

73_zpsnre3um6p.jpg


It still needs the wire to the aircraft, which I need to remodel.

The RAT

46_zpsurguoysr.png


Finally I need to model the APU, however I hope to gain some details on how that looks when Airbus gives me some information. :P
 
Working RAT? sure, you are a Great, the only working RAT I know is on the PMDG777 (Captainsim, not, ony the animation ;) )

GPU/EPU is with PMDG too, so you are close to give us a Payware quality Addon :), Keep it up :)
 
Marc L said:
Working RAT? sure, you are a Great, the only working RAT I know is on the PMDG777 (Captainsim, not, ony the animation ;) )
Click to expand...

I'm planning on making that yes :D

Marc L said:
GPU/EPU is with PMDG too, so you are close to give us a Payware quality Addon :), Keep it up :)
Click to expand...

As previously said I don't know weither this will become payware or freeware, however if it becomes payware I should give some quality right? ;) (not saying that I've made any dicision what so ever and I'll probably leave the decision open untill I've spoken with enough people and have done enough development)
 
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Anyway, what do you guys think about the little stories/information I'm giving about the aircraft... is it any good or do I waste my time writing them?
 
I like to read the stories as it gives a little background information also about what you are doing or gonna do
 
Yep, good you're giving some background information! From what I've learned, battery life (without any source running still) is meant to be 30 minutes only. There's also a hot battery bus, on which the essention components are located. This bus cannot be switched off.
 
Dutcheeseblend said:
Yep, good you're giving some background information! From what I've learned, battery life (without any source running still) is meant to be 30 minutes only. There's also a hot battery bus, on which the essention components are located. This bus cannot be switched off.
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Thanks! :D I guess up and around 30 minutes would be about right indeed, the baterries are powerfull so they can last that long. That being said you've got to imagine how much energy the normal generator produce, because they have to produce more in order to keep all non-vital functions running aswell + recharg the batteries (if they've been used ofcourse). The 30 minutes is meant as a standard so on the one hand the aircraft doesn't shut itself down that fast and on the other hand so manufacturers don't make the checklists too long, because after about 25 minutes of trying to start a generator the pilot has to start thinking about the RAT deployment. The Hot Baterry Bus is also, like you said, always connected to the Baterries (that's the difference with a normal Battery Bus I guess, which has to be turned on before flight). This means the components connected to the HBB are always fed through the Baterries, with the batteries on it's turn being fed by the active generator. One could say that the baterries therefor are an energy resevoir so pilots can deal with the failing generator scenario and still keep the plane flying. ;) I believe HBB has become a standard within the most modern aircraft as it eliminates the protantial risk of a pilot forgetting to turn the BB on, which would be flying without any backup. Now eventhough generator failures are pritty rare it ofcourse can happen, so one should be prepared. That's why the HBB is there ;) Thanks for the note Daan :) also the difficult thing with flying on RAT is that you would need a certain speed as a minimum too get the rotor to turn fast enough in oder to get enough energy to fly the plane. I can only imagine that being pritty difficult.
 
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Working RATs, you say?
Nonchalant whistle
It even produces electricity.
(Aircraft)

(Because it's defined as FSX' APU, which does not consume fuel and starts during RAT deployment. Going above or below a certain airspeed just connects and cuts the virtual generator. It's that easy. But shhhh, don't let users know this, they're gonna complain!)
 
Heretic said:
Working RATs, you say?
Nonchalant whistle
It even produces electricity.
(Aircraft)

(Because it's defined as FSX' APU, which does not consume fuel and starts during RAT deployment. Going above or below a certain airspeed just connects and cuts the virtual generator. It's that easy. But shhhh, don't let users know this, they're gonna complain!)
Click to expand...

Ahh lovely L-39! :) Yes the RAT, you probably know more about it then me with the FSX script but I had come to the conclusion it would just be a second APU with a zero fuel usage ;) and the connecting and cutting generator ofcourse makes it all the more realistic thanks for the tip!
 
F747fly said:
But it does support the scenario of one APU that does use fuel and another that doesn't?
Click to expand...

One APU only, so no.

In order to make the APU use fuel, you'll need a fuel dump gauge that will reduce the amount of fuel in the tanks when the "real" APU is running.

You can set up two modes:
1) APU. Controlled via overhead, APU-specific messages on the EICAS, uses fuel.
2) RAT. Auto-deploy when not stationary and no generator is running, will not use fuel, RAT-specific messages on the EICAS.
 
Heretic said:
One APU only, so no.

In order to make the APU use fuel, you'll need a fuel dump gauge that will reduce the amount of fuel in the tanks when the "real" APU is running.
Click to expand...

Hmm okay, thanks for the information!
 
Think of the APU in FSX as a global "Infinite Power Source" variable. You can have as many conditions as you want to activate it. You could have both a RAT and an APU. Just set a condition so that if either of them are running, the "Infinite Power Source" will turn on. For the APU Generator, just make sure to add a condition that the APU must be running. To "fake" an APU, you just have to add a fake, scripted APU RPM Gauge in the EICAS and an associated sound with its operation. Use Doug's Fuel Manager Gauge, and you'll be set. I'm doing that in my secret panel project that might never happen.
 
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