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ComNav Admiral P3 Installation & Operation How Autopilots Work
Document PN 29010075 V3.1 - 16 -
The Control Head, normally located in the wheelhouse, is the interface between the user
(that’s you …) and the autopilot. The Control Head displays information about what the
autopilot is doing. It has various controls (buttons &/or knobs) that allow the user to give
commands to the Autopilot.
The final part of the picture is the Steering System. In order for the autopilot to steer the
boat, there must be some a steering system (i.e., actuator) capable of moving the rudder
independently of the ship’s wheel. This might be a hydraulic ram that is connected to the
rudder post or tiller quadrant, or an electric motor connected to the steering cables.
Electronic signals from the SPU signal the steering system to move the rudder. Your
autopilot also will have a Rudder Follower Unit (RFU), a device that tells the SPU what
position the rudder is in at any given time.
Autopilot Operation: Maintaining a Heading
Say, for example, the autopilot was steering your boat Southwest, and you wished to change
direction to Southeast.
That’s easy – if you are using your ComNav Autopilot in AUTO mode.
To initiate the turn, you would turn the knob on the Control Head to set the Desired Heading
(as shown on the Control Head’s display screen) to 135° – i.e., Southeast.
The SPU then would compare this to the boat’s current Actual Heading of 225° (Southwest),
as indicated by the Compass, and determine that the Desired Heading is 90° to Port of the
Actual Heading. This in turn would cause the SPU to send a signal to the steering system to
move the Rudder to Port – so that the boat turns to Port. The SPU verifies that the Rudder
has moved by reading its position from the Rudder Follower Unit.
As the boat turns, the difference between the Desired Heading and the Actual Heading gets
smaller, and as it does, the SPU then starts to ‘back off” the rudder – i.e., move it back to
centre – so that the boat does not overshoot the Desired Heading.
Eventually, the Actual Heading will match the Desired Heading. The SPU will keep steering
the boat on a heading of 135°, until new instructions are received from the Control Head.
Figure 2 shows a vessel making that Southwest-to-Southeast turn in AUTO mode.
ComNav Autopilots provide an important safety feature in AUTO mode: when you first select
the mode, the autopilot will use the current Actual Heading as the Desired Heading. This
feature prevents the autopilot from executing an unexpected turn when you first select AUTO
mode.
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