Fly-By-Wire
Autopilots
Rudder Drive Hydraulics
Mini Gyro Compass
Depth Sounder
Log and Temperature
Wind Instruments
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TECNAUTIC System-6 Overview
The best available Mono Cable System comprising
Fly-By-Wire Steering, Cockpit Instruments, Autopilots and Jumbo Displays. Three years
warranty.
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Fly-By-Wire Steering: a steering wheel that
holds the heading The Fly-By-Wire
steering wheel determines the rate of turn of the boat, not
the rudder angle.
With the
wheel centered in the detent, the heading is held. The artificial boat stability is
a main aspect of the Fly-By-Wire steering. The Sonic Heading Gyro is the heart of the
system: a low cost gyro compass which is produced by TECNAUTIC since
1992. The Autopilot computer positions the rudder as needed, so as to achieve the
requested turn rate of the boat, determined by the electronic steering wheel. |
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Cockpit Displays include analog color LED-pointer |
In addition to the digital LCD, an analog LED-pointer is included around the face of each cockpit display. Depending on the selected function, the analog LED pointer may work as a compass needle, wind angle indicator, amplified boat speed indicator, rudder angle, depth or trim flap indicator etc.
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Night time viewing and group wise illumination control |
The analog LED pointer can be dimmed
continuously down to zero and the LCD can be back lit for night time viewing.
When several displays are located in a group, e.g. in a forward cockpit, they can be
assigned the same group number. Adjusting the brightness of one of them will make the
others follow to the same brightness level.
A total of 15 groups can be created, with an unlimited number of displays in each group.
Tecnautic Displays offer more flexibility and more safety
Each cockpit display can show all available data of the system, e.g. compass, log, wind, depth or GPS data etc. Data originating from displays, steering wheels and rudder drives are distributed in the system over the network cable (CAN bus).
In addition to the bus connection, every display
unit can be individually connected to one analog and one digital sensor. For example, a
Sonic Heading Gyro can be connected to the "analog" input of a display and the
NMEA in- and output of a Flux Gate Sensor can be connected to the "digital"
input/output of a display unit.
The sensor input can be unrelated
to the displayed function on that unit. A Sonic Heading Gyro for example can be connected
to a "Depth Display" or a Flux Gate Compass Sensor can be connected to an
"Autopilot Display", if this makes the installation easier. As you realize
already, there is no "Depth Display" or "Compass Display" etc., they
are all technically equal, only the printing on the bezel and the number of key buttons
may be different.
The size of the displays is 114 x 132 x 17 mm (4.5 x 5.2 x 0.67 in.). They are flush
mounted. Only a small hole in the center is required for installation.
A display unit that receives signals from a directly connected analog sensor or NMEA-data
from a directly connected digital sensor, will transmit these data at high speed (125
kbit/sec) to all other displays, steering wheels and the autopilot on the bus. A display
unit receiving data over the CAN-bus can output them via its digital NMEA-output, if desired.
There is no central processor in the
system. Instead there is distributed intelligence and functionality. If for
example a total of
four display units have been installed, there is four fold redundancy.
 Very Large
Instruments: The JUMBO displays offer 40 mm digit height (1.5 inches). They are available in fluorescent red or yellow. They can be set to display any parameter in the system. With two water tight network connectors at the back side, daisy chaining of multiple units becomes easy. The integrated illumination can be adjusted remotely from a cockpit display. The price of the TECNAUTIC JUMBO displays is unmatched. |
Silent and power saving autopilots
TECNAUTIC Autopilots and Fly-By-Wire Steering are controlling the rudder speed continuously from zero to maximum rate, in both directions. The result is a natural, silent and smooth rudder motion. Power drain from the battery is up to four times less than the effective motor current, thanks to state of the art 35kHz pulse width modulation. A current filter in the supply leads takes care of a constant and noise free load on the battery.
On larger vessels where constant hydraulic pressure is normally available, the same autopilot can drive an electric servo valve instead of the rudder motor (pump). On medium sized vessels, which often have continuous running DC driven pumps with switch over valves, those can be equally connected to the autopilot computer (Drivebox).
For redundant systems, two autopilot
computers can be connected to the bus. If both are connected to the same
rudder drive, one will work at a time (they will change every time an
autopilot is used). If two rudder drives are installed, they can assist each
other automatically, if the rudder speed of one drive is too low. To further enhance redundancy, the sensors can also be installed
twice (gyro, flux gate, rudder angle). All available sensor data are
automatically used by both Drive-boxes.
Bus Cable: cannot be disturbed
Fly-By-Wire steering, instruments and autopilot are connected with identical cable. The cable has two wire pairs, one for data and one for the supply. If custom wiring is selected, branching of the bus cable is accomplished with RJ-45 connectors. These can be installed with a simple crimp tool. Standard cables are shipped with connectors already installed.
The TECNAUTIC network is based on a time driven CAN© protocol. It has a so called Multi Master Architecture and it guarantees data transmission within a defined time. Most other protocols slow down when an increasing number of nodes (equipment pieces) is connected to the bus. Not so the Tecnautic CAN bus. Transmission speed is 125 kbit/s. The distance between any two nodes on the bus may be up to 200 m.