Design And Theory Of Operation; Automatic Steering - Simrad ROBERTSON AP45 Instruction Manual

Simrad marine instruments user manual
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Robertson AP45 Autopilot

Design and theory of operation

Automatic Steering

3. DESIGN AND THEORY OF OPERATION
An autopilot is an apparatus that controls the rudder of a vessel in order to
maintain a selected heading.
There are different design principles for such an apparatus, but they all basically
operate as shown in Fig. 3-1.
This diagram shows that the vessel's heading is supplied from the compass to a
detector circuit. The detector will sense when the vessel is off course and to what
side. The detected signal is amplified and directed to either energise the port or
starboard solenoids, i.e. make the rudder move one way or the other.
DET
COMPASS
HEADING
GYRO
COMPASS
MAGNETIC
COMPASS
KEYPAD
AMP
RUDDER POSITION
Fig. 3-1
Autopilot principle diagram
PROGRAM
CPU
I/O
INTERFACE
COURSE
SELECTOR
DISPLAY
Fig. 3-2
Processor controlled autopilot
Simrad Robertson AS
Egersund - Norway
STBD. TRIGGER
SOLENOID
SOLENOID
PORT TRIGGER
FB
FEEDBACK
UNIT
DRIVER
RUDDER
FEEDBACK
Page 3-1
RUDDER
SOLENOID
VALVES
RUDDER

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