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Electrical Systems
The emergence of glass cockpits and other
electronic systems in general aviation has
changed the way we should look at electrical
systems. Electricity is very much the life-blood
of modern airplanes. Unfortunately, electrical
system design does not always reflect this
criticality.
Regulations require little more than dual
sources of power (sometimes interpreted as an
alternator and a battery) and backup instruments
with their own power (sometimes this is vacuum
or a small, dedicated battery). This ensures a
level of redundancy for essential attitude,
airspeed and altitude information.
The Cirrus electrical system goes much further
and protects essential equipment (PFD,
autopilot, GPS, etc.) by isolating it from all
other equipment. Power can be drawn from any
alternator or battery but essential equipment
cannot be compromised by some piece of
non-essential equipment or physical short
elsewhere in the system. This introduces fault
tolerance and robustness to the Cirrus
electrical system.
Cirrus "all electric" airplanes have two
alternators, two batteries and at least two
buses for power distribution. Alternator
arrangements vary by model with differing levels
of redundancy. Robust, fault tolerant design
ensures that essential equipment is supported
indefinately after an alternator or main bus
failure.
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