POWER SUPPLIES QUESTIONS

1. What are the four common sources of power on aircraft?

2. What is a negative earth return system?

3. How do we provide earth return in a fully composite aircraft?

4. What is the correct meaning of generator and alternator?

5. Explain the difference between the three DC Bus-bar types?

6. What are the battery endurance times in VFR and IFR aircraft?

7. What is the difference between Trip Free and Non Trip Free circuit breakers?

8. When are circuit protective devices not required in a circuit?

9. Which type of circuits requires individual circuit protection, and which do

not?

10. In a Split Bus-bar system, what is the normal operating position of the Bus Tie
Breaker, and the Isolation relay?

11. Under what circumstances would the relays be closed?

12. From what you have learned earlier in the notes, how could you rename the
No1 DC and the No2 DC Bus-bars in Chapter 1 Section 1 Page 4?

13. What two Bus-bars, therefore, can the isolation relay be used to connect?
14. In the Parallel power system, what is the normal flight position of the Bus Tie
Breakers and DC Tie Breakers?

15. How are battery short circuits detected in some battery systems?

16. Why does the battery have a contactor on both the positive output, and earth
return ?

17. What indications will the pilot get if any of the above two contactors are not
closed?

18. Where does the normal battery protection board get its alternative power
supply if the main battery fails?

19. What conditions or faults will cause the battery contactors to trip off, or not
energise?

20. What circuits does the standby battery feed in some aircraft types?

21. When will a standby battery start feeding the loads?

22. What indications does the pilot get when his standby battery is on line?

23. What is being tested when the standby charge test is activated?

24. What will happen if the norm/emerg switch is selected to emerg, and the
normal supplies are off?

25. What factors cause thermal runaway in all battery types?

26. What is it that actually causes thermal runaway to occur?

27. How do we prevent thermal runaway occurring in modern battery systems?

28. What are the relative merits of alkaline batteries, over lead-acid batteries?

29. What is the internal resistance of an aircraft main battery:

i. When the battery is flat?

ii. When the battery is fully charged?

iii. When the battery is very cold?

iv. When the battery is hot?

30. What are the optimum on-aircraft charging systems for the different battery
types?

31. How are the two battery types charged in the battery workshop?

32. From an electrical point of view, where is the best place to fit a battery in an
aircraft?

33. What special preparations must we provide in an aircraft to protect the

structure from damage?

34. Why is there a non-return valve fitted into a battery vent system?

35. What is the purpose of an acid trap?

36. How do we correctly connect and disconnect a battery that has forked lug
connections?

37. In a certain turbo-prop starter system explain how the battery configuration is
used to vary the drive torque during engine starts?

38. What fault will cause the charger to go revert to a soft start afterwards?

39. What is the purpose of the emergency power switch?

40. What kind of faults or conditions will cause the battery charger to shut down
or not switch on in the first place?

41. Explain what happens when the carbon pile voltage regulator detects a rise in
voltage?

42. How do we prevent the voltage output wandering because of the heating
effects in the Carbon Pile Regulator?

43. What would happen if the voltage coil went open circuit?

44. How does the zener diode allow the voltage to build up rapidly, during start
up, in the Solid State Voltage Regulator?

45. What is the relationship between the two transistors in the regulator?

46. What controls the entire solid state regulator?

47. What is the diode on the output side of the field transistor for?

48. How do we trim the voltage in the transistorised regulator?

49. Which coil in the Cut Out switches on-line the generator?

50. What is the purpose of the series coil?

51. In the simple generator circuit, what does the differential coil ensure?

52. What is the purpose of the series coil in the Differential Cut Out?

53. What is the second set of contacts for in the Generator Reverse Current Circuit
Breaker?

54. What circuit does the overvoltage latched relay act upon?
55. Explain what happens when the engine is shut down, to switch off the
generator?

56. Explain what happens if the feeder cable on the generator output shorts to
earth?

57. What is the purpose of the Hold Off Relay?

58. What would happen to the battery and the generator if the ground power was
removed?

59. In the Twin DC Generator System, what is the extra coil that is wound on top
of the overvoltage latched relay?

60. What is the purpose of the Voltage Pick Up relay?

61. Where in the generator circuit, is the equalising circuit connected between?

62. What direction does the equalising current flow between two unbalanced
generators?

63. Which carbon pile voltage coil is assisted, and which is opposed when the two
generators are unbalanced?

64. What is the purpose of the Voltage Boost Resistor(VBR)?

65. When is the VBR shorted out, and what shorts it out?

66. What would happen if you had corrosion on one of the generator earth
bonding points?

67. What is the relationship between the equalising coil and the voltage coil in the
carbon pile regulator?

68. What would happen if the equalising circuit grounded in the middle between
the two line contactor contacts?
69. How does the Equalising Circuit System for bringing the second generator on
line, work?

70. In the helicopter power generation system, what loads do each generator
power up?

71. How do we transfer power across from a failed generator to the other
generator?

72. What does the Control and Protection Unit actually do in the system?

73. What happens if you plug in ground power when both generators are on line?

74. What would happen if you tried to select the generators on-line when the
ground power is still connected?

75. What are the two main categories of AC power systems?

76. What kind of loads can you power from a frequency wild power supply
system?

77. What are the two types of constant frequency power systems?

78. Why cant we parallel frequency wild generators?

79. Can we put invertors in parallel with each other?

80. What is the purpose of Compounding Transformers in some generator

systems?

81. How many diodes are required to full wave rectify 3 AC?

82. How do we initially excite the frequency wild generator?

83. Why does the frequency wild generator have salient poles?
84. Explain the construction of the generator?

85. How does an earth leakage system work?

86. Where in older generators is the overheat sensor?

87. What controls the operation of an overvoltage protection system?

88. What is the purpose of the capacitor in the overvoltage protection system?

89. How are overloads sensed in AC generator systems?

90. How does a differential protection system work?

91. When does the differential protection system start protecting the generator?

92. What is the formula for working out a generators frequency?

93. What two components are combined in an I.D.G (Integrated Drive Generator)?

94. What happens in a C.S.D.U (Constant Speed Drive Unit) when;

i. Frequency drops below 400 Hz?

ii. Frequency climbs above 400Hz?

95. What effect does a signal into the magnetic trim coil of a C.S.D.U have?

96. What ECU (Engine Change Unit) combination of throttle position / and
generator loading would cause the C.S.D.U to;
i. Be in the maximum overdrive position?

ii. Be in the full under drive position?

97. What are the two C.S.D.U disconnect methods?

98. When can a C.S.D.U be reconnected?

99. What two things happen electrically when a C.S.D.U is manually

disconnected?

100. What happens when the C.S.D.U over speed governor operates?

101. What happens when the under speed governor operates?

102. What three functions does the oil in the I.D.G carry out?

103. What are the frequency limits, within which, the C.S.D.U can be
mechanically adjusted?

104. What three improvements does the stability winding give a generator?

105. The thermistor has what function in the brushless generator?

106. Explain the construction of a modern brushless generator?

107. What is the output of the main exciter field?

108. What would be the effect of one diode in the rotor going;
i. Open circuit?

ii. Short circuit?

109. What would be the effect in the generator if two of the three windings
of the main exciter had a low resistance short between them?

110. Put simply, what three components make up the V.S.C.F (Variable
Speed Constant Frequency) generator?
111. What prevents the B.I.T (Built in Test) switch from being operated
when the generator is running?

112. What would you do to reconnect the drive to the V.S.C.F if it was
disconnected in flight?

113. How do we convert V.A (Apparent load), to real load?

114. What is meant by;

i. A lagging power factor?

ii. A leading power factor?

115. How can we calculate power factor?

116. What is power factor also a measure of?

117. What functions are inside a G.C.U (Generator Control Unit)?

118. How do we reset a tripped G.C.R (Generator Control Relay)?

119. What are the two power supplies into a G.C.U?

120. When the field relay is tripped, what also must trip?

121. What faults does a G.C.U monitor?

122. What unit actually trips off and on line the generator from the bus
bars?

123. Where in a T.R.U (Transformer Rectifier Unit) is the R.C.C.B (Reverse

current Circuit Breaker)?

124. How are all the windings on the output connected in relation to each
other?
125. What fault would cause a reverse current into a T.R.U, and what effect
would this fault have on the D.C bus bars?

126. Why do we have star and delta output windings in the T.R.U?

127. What protection circuits do we have in a T.R.U?

128. What is the function of a B.P.C.U (Bus Power Control Unit)?

129. Which of the two main contactor types is suitable for use in a circuit
that we dont want to trip under G forces?

130. What other advantage does this type of breaker give us?

131. What is the Point of Regulation, and where is it situated?

132. What happens to the pulse width in the voltage regulator, through the
field if;
A/ The voltage output rises above 200v?

B/ The voltage output drops below 200v?

133. Why do we have three inputs, one from each phase, to the voltage
regulator?

134. In the split bus bar system, what relay would connect the D.C essential
and D.C non essential bus bars?

135. Which bus bar does the static inverter get its power from, and what bus
bar does its output feed?

136. When does an emergency generator get deployed/power up?

137. When does an inverter take over from the emergency generator?
138. What faults or condition is the following split bus bar aircraft under;
The Bus Tie Breaker (BTB) is closed, the No1 and No2 Generator Breakers
(GB) are open, the External Power Contactor (XPC) is closed, and the
Isolation Relay is closed?

139. Relative to generators and the APU (Auxiliary Power Unit), what is the
power output of the emergency generator?

140. Explain why the Auto land circuit has an input into the power
distribution system, and show how it works.

141. What kind of circuit breakers are normally fitted to the feed lines of
sub bus bars?

142. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the parallel power
system?

143. What conditions must be satisfied before the interlock circuit in the
A.C ground power system will allow external power onto an aircraft?

144. What conditions must be satisfied before two generators are connected
in parallel?

145. On the older types of aircraft, how did the lamp method work in
paralleling generators together?

146. What is a ground servicing bus bar for, and what kind of loads are
connected to it?

147. What is another name for an A.C Tie Bus bar?

148. What is altered by the load sharing circuit when a generator has a real
load sharing problem?

149. What is altered by the load sharing circuit when a generator has a
reactive load sharing problem?

150. In the above two scenarios, what happens in the other generators at the
same time?
151. Explain how real and reactive loads are measured by a power meter?

152. What happens in any load sharing system if a current transformer goes
open circuit?

153. What would happen in any load sharing circuit if some windings inside
a current transformer short together?

154. What must we do if we disconnect a current transformer on an aircraft,

but dont remove it?

155. What is the purpose of the auxiliary contacts across a current

transformer in the load sharing circuits?

156. What does the Split System Breaker (SSB) do in some large parallel
aircraft types?

157. What effect does the air gap in a mutual reactor give us?

158. Which faults cause all BTBs to trip in a parallel system?

159. Why does an under voltage and under frequency fault not cause the
field relay to trip?

160. Why does an APU generator not require a CSDU?

161. What two power sources can start APUs?

162. What supplies can an APU give us?

163. What are the ground handling precautions associated with Ram Air
Turbines (RAT)?
164. What are the six connections in the NATO 6 pin socket, and why are
the smaller pins recessed?