Alternator Load Dump by the pilot switching off the alternator circuit breaker

An interesting article by Femi G. Ibitayo of Zeftronics on how the pilot can damage the aircraft charging system by switching the alternator circuit breaker on and off in flight.

A load dump condition caused by the sudden removal of the battery from a rotating alternator may cause these types of damage. In a load dump condition the when the battery goes off-line, the output of a 12V alternator can suddenly increase to 30V or higher, especially when there is no ground on the voltage regulator or alternator controller.


The suddenly or intermittent opening of the battery relay may lead to a load dump condition. The freewheeling diode put across the coil of the battery relates in the aircraft serves as an inductive kickback suppressor or protection device. In this role, it also helps reduce relay contact chatter. Losing this diode may negatively impact the operation and the life of the battery relay. A negative going pulse of a magnitude higher than its forward current rating can damage the diode.

Load dump conditions can happen if the main alternator circuit breaker opens and closes suddenly while the alternator controller is still supplying current to the alternator’s field. Sometimes pilots will pull and push back in the alternator’s output circuit breaker at cruise speed. This is the point the alternator is capable of supplying very high and destructive voltage and current output. Pulling the breaker under this condition leaves the alternator’s stator with all the energy it produced pent up. Pushing in a breaker under this condition connects alternator to the bus and introduces the uncontrolled pent up energy on the system bus as very high voltage and current pulses. These pulses seek the best/easiest current paths and can damage electrical loads in the system. For this reason, we recommend to the pilots and mechanics that we deal with that they avoid pulling any main alternator circuit breaker while the alternator is rotating. The energy experienced in this situation is similar to what happens in a spark plug. To turn off a rotating alternator that has power to its field the best and safest practice is to turn off the alternator field switch first and then if necessary pull the main breaker.    read more...

Starters and Worm Gears in Aircraft Piston Engines

Ever notice how Lycoming and Continental use completely different designs to interface the starter to the engine? We'll focus on the gearing differences between the two.

Continental uses a "starter adapter" for most of their engines that houses a worm gear and clutch mechanism.

Lycoming uses a starter ring gear" mounted to a large "Support Assembly" attached to the crankshaft flange. There are several engineering trade-off's of the two:

• Lycoming keeps gearing out of the engine. If gear teeth break they don't contaminate the inside of the engine.
• The heavy Support Assembly might provide some vibration dampening.
• The starter adapter is compact and light weight.
• The starter adapter can serve multiple purposes by mounting a pully or dampner to it.
• The Continental starter adapter has been an expensive item to repair at overhaul (or in between) so Continental engines have one more expense.
• The Support Assembly is like a large flat plate out in front of the engine that prevents tapering the cowling at the nose.
• You can mount a pully or pully's to the Support Assembly to drive alternators and vacuum pumps.
• The Support Assembly can have electrical contacts in the form of circumferal grooves to transfer electricity to the propeller deice system.
• Both systems have had their own unique problems so it is a trade-off in my opinion as to which one is more reliable. But the Lycoming is less expensive to maintain.
  
  The fast rotating starter needs to be geared down to the proper starting rpm for the engine. This is where the comparison becomes interesting: Lycoming uses a pinion and gear (small gear on the starter is called a pinion) to achieve the proper gear ratio. Continental uses a worm and gear "worm gear" to achieve the proper gear ratio. Lets compare the two:
  

 The Lycoming starter ring gear is on the outside and the Contintal worm and gear is on the inside. Notice how compact the worm gear is? Worm gears are often used when large reductions in gearing are needed. In this example, a fast turning starter motor turns the worm. The engine is then turned by the gear - at a much slower rate. Compare this with the large Lycoming starter ring gear that does the same thing but is 2 feet across.

This is a close-up of the Continental worm and gear. Mounted on the back is the clutch spring and drum that disengages the starter when the engine starts. When it works it works well, but there are lots of parts that have the potential of failing and releasing bits of metal into the engine.

The typical worm gear has a brass gear mounted to a steel worm. There's a lot of rubbing motion across the gear teeth so lubricant needs to be continually applied.  The combination of steel on brass prevents cold welding (galling) between the surfaces as lubrication is in the boundry zone where the lubricant isn't always between the surfaces.