Do You Know What A Magnetic Compass Is?
Nov 22, 2022| A magnetic compass is an instrument that measures the heading of an aircraft by sensing the Earth's magnetic field.
Because of its simple and reliable structure, the magnetic compass is installed on the aircraft.
However, it is precisely because of the effect of the earth's magnetic field that the magnetic compass has a large error due to the large magnetic difference when it is close to the north and south poles. The indication of the magnetic compass produces errors.
When the aircraft pitches, tilts, circles, accelerates or decelerates, the earth's magnetic field and the aircraft's magnetic field also cause errors in the indication of the magnetic compass. Therefore, the magnetic compass is generally used as the spare compass of the aircraft, and is used after the main compass on the aircraft fails.
Magnetic compass, we often call it "water compass", the water compass is not filled with water, but a kind of compass oil like ethanol or kerosene, its function is to reduce the friction between sensitive parts and pillars, and can convert frictional energy into internal energy , but its disadvantage is that when the aircraft heading changes, a significant hysteresis error will occur due to the damping effect of the liquid on the magnetic sensitive element.