Intermediate Board - User Guide

Introduction

Thank you for purchasing the Classic Flight Intermediate Control circuit board (ICB). We hope that you will find that it is a simple and effective tool for use in your motion platform. It has been designed to fit in well with the rest of the components in the drive control chain.

We have tested the circuit board extensively and derived the accompanying guidance from our motion base design, building and testing. However, we cannot be responsible for any loss or damage arising from use of our ICB board, or the guidance set out in this or any other documents released by us.

This guide assumes that you have already purchased, installed and configured Motion Drive software on your PC. In order to install the ICB, you will need to have Motion Drive or a similar software package installed on your PC, together with the suitable USB devices, such as the USB modules provided with Motion Drive. If you are using a motion software programme other than Motion Drive, you should still follow the instructions given here, but you will need to refer to your software user guide to find out how to carry out some of the steps.

If, after reading this documentation, you have some questions regarding your particular application, please contact us.

Essential Information
Care and location of your ICB board
Storage. The ICB board is a delicate item of electronic circuitry. It is supplied to you in special anti-static protective wrapping and should be kept stored in that wrapping until ready for use in a clean dry place.
Location. It should be located in a suitable place on your motion base, where it will not be subject to physical or electrical damage, preferably firmly fixed inside a suitable electrical enclosure box of the type that can be purchased from component suppliers.
Installation. When handling and installing the modules, you should take care not to incur damage through careless handling and static electrical discharge. Make sure you use a suitable earthing method on yourself before and during handling. When connecting components (USB modules, other boards etc.), ensure that the boards are NOT powered up by disconnecting the USB modules from the USB port of your PC.

Functional Description

The function of the ICB is to gather together all the connections to a range of necessary components into a single neat, easy to install package. The ICB covers a range of inputs and outputs in both the drive control chain and platform sensor parts of the system. Most of the functionality is in terms of making the large number of inputs and outputs in a neat way, but there are some on-board components and features which expand that basic role.

Drive control chain functions
The ICB brings together the inputs of control and reversing pin signals from USB module #2 and the resulting control voltages from the DAC boards. It sends outputs as control pin signals to DACs (up to four) and as a complete set of connections for Motor Control Boards (MCBs) or similar drive controllers.

Using the external supply of control voltage from the MCB, it enables up to four reversing pins to be set high (for drive reversing) at the control voltage of the MCB, and also the installation of a daisy chain of ignition, end stop and emergency stop switches, which act upon all drives conencted to the ICB at the same time. This last feature is very important in providing emergency interruption of platform operation if needed. There are on-board LEDs which indicate the state of each reverse pin and terminals for connection of a remote LED to indicate that the ignition circuit is live.

Platform Sensor Functions
The ICB has facilities for connecting four sensors for each of three axes - Roll, Pitch and Heave. The sensors themselves are connected as inputs to the bank of screw terminals on the bottom edge of the ICB. Each sensor input connects to a single pin on one of the three IDC pre-cabled connectors. These connectors are for connection to USB module #2, ports A and B.

In addition to the simple connection, an on-board red LED is provided for each sensor, so that it can be seen whether the sensor switch is activated or not. This is mainly used in setting up of the sensors and subsequent diagnositc work. There are four spare terminals, which may be used in the future.

Intermediate Board User Guide version 1.0