System Representation for the Control System of the Follow-up Mechanism on the Marine Gyro Compass

It does not seem necessarily practicable to keep the system always in optimal condition, athough the control system of the follow-up mechanism on the most marine gyro compasses is to be adjusted by the operator through the gain adjustment. Sometimes a sustained oscillation or an incorrect gyro reading occurs to the system. For such a system any systematical research or theoretical basis of the guide for the optimal gain adjustment has not been reported yet. As a basic investigation of the theoretical system analysis to solve the problems concerned, the author attempts in this paper to express the system in a mathematical model deduced from the results of the theoretical approach and the experimental observation of each element contained in the follow-up mechanism of Hokshin D-1 gyro compass, and to constitute an over-all closed loop transfer function. This funciton being reverted to a fourth orderlinear differential equation, the first order simultaneous differential equations are obtained by means of the state-variables. The latter equations are solved by the Runge-Kutta method with digital computer. By comparing the characteristic of the simulated over-all output with that of the experimental result, it is shown that both outputs are nearly consistent with each other. It is also expected that the system representation proposed by this paper is valid and will be a prospective means in a further study on the design and optimal adjustment of the system.