BRIDGE EQUIPMENT WATCH KEEPING AND

METEOROLOGY
GYRO COMPASS
FOR
DNS
SYLLABUS
FREE
GYROSCOPE
• A heavy wheel spinning at a high
speed about its spin axis , mounted on
a circular ring in the same plane as the
spin axis
• The ring is connected to a vertical ring
at points at right angles to the spin
axis in such a manner as to permit the
spin axis to tilt about its horizontal axis
within the vertical ring
• The vertical ring is connected to an
outer member at right angles to the
horizontal axis, so that the gyro wheel
can turn about its vertical axis
 FREE GYROSCOPE
• The gyro wheel has freedom to turn its axis of spin in
any direction
• It can
• Tilt about its horizontal axis
• Turn about its vertical axis and
• Spin about its spin axis
• The whole system is so balanced that the centre of
gravity of the assembly is at the intersection of the
three axes and all bearings are as free from friction
as possible
• Freedom for the rotor to spin, tilt and turn are
termed the “Three degrees of freedom”
• This will exhibit the properties of a free gyroscope if
the wheel is fairly heavy and well balanced
FREE GYROSCOPE

• A free gyroscope has two unique properties

• Gyroscopic Inertia
• Precession
• Gyroscopic Inertia: A freely spinning Gyroscope will
maintain its axis of spin in the same direction in
space regardless of how its supporting base is
turned. It resists any force attempting to turn its axis
of spin in a new direction. This property is termed as
“the rigidity in space”
• The spin axis will continue to point towards an
imaginary star(Gyro Star) as the earth rotates
FREE GYROSCOPE

• Precession: It is the movement of the spin

axis when a force is applied to the
Gyroscope. Precession about vertical axis
• When a couple is applied about its
horizontal axis, the spin axis will turn at
right angles to the applied force in the
S
direction of spin of the wheel
• Similarly, a couple applied about the
vertical axis will make the spin axis turn
about the horizontal axis in the direction of
spin of the wheel
Precession about horizontal axis
SPIN DIRECTION CLOCKWISE
PRECESSION

SPIN DIRECTION ANTI-CLOCKWISE

 TILT AND DRIFT
Tilt
• The angle of elevation or depression of the spin axis above or below the
horizontal is referred to as ‘Tilt’
Drift
• The movement of spin axis in the direction of azimuth is called as ‘Drift’
 ROTATION OF THE EARTH
• The Earth is a natural gyroscope
• The axis of the earth is always pointing to the same spot in space.
• Rotates on its axis from West to East
• The horizontal plane at the pole is having a turntable movement (Drift) about the
vertical in an anti - clockwise direction
• A horizontal plane at equator would appear to be tilting about a N- S axis; the east
end going down and the west end coming up, pass through zenith , and going down
to east
• At the poles, the movement of a horizontal plane is entirely a turntable movement
and at the equator, the movement of a horizontal plane is entirely a tilting
movement
• In any intermediate latitude, the movement of the horizontal plane will be a
combination of the turntable movement and tilting movement relative to space
 ROTATION OF THE EARTH,
Gyro will exhibit the same movements relative to horizontal plane on
the earth as a horizontal plane would exhibit to space, except that the
movement will be in the opposite sense
If a Gyro is placed on the N pole, with its axle horizontal, the axle will be
seen to rotate clockwise relative to the horizon, completing one
revolution of 360° in one sidereal day. In the South Pole the gyro axle will
move anticlockwise
If the gyroscope is placed on the equator with its axle horizontal and
east- west, then the east end of the axle will be seen to rise relative to
earth, pass through zenith and start dipping towards west after passing
the zenith and complete one rotation of 360° in one sidereal day
In any north latitude, if the gyro axle is set on the meridian and
horizontal, the north end will turn to east due to the turntable
movement and as it is east of the meridian, it will rise due to the tilting
movement
In a South latitude, the N end will turn to west due to turntable
movement and as soon as it is west of the meridian, it will dip
downwards due to the tilting movement
 RATE OF DRIFT AND TILT OF HORIZONTAL PLANE

Rate of tilt of horizontal in lat l° = 15 Cos l° per hour(Maximum in

Equator and Nil at the poles)
Rate of drift of horizontal in lat l° = 15 Sin l° per hour (Maximum at
the poles and Nil at the Equator)
 GRAVITY CONTROL IN GYRO

Requirements of a Gyro Compass

• Free gyroscope continuously changes its azimuth and tilt pointing towards an
imaginary star
• Though it is maintaining its direction with respect to space, it has no use as a
direction keeping instrument on the Earth
• Its apparent tilt and drift due to Earth's rotation need to be sensed and corrected
so that it can point to a stable direction on the Earth
• Earth’s gravity is used for this purpose
 THE PERIOD OF THE COMPASS
PERIOD OF COMPASS
(settling time)
• The period of compass is the time taken by the gyro compass to
settle on the meridian from the time of initial start
• This is irrespective of the direction the axle is pointing at the start
• For a damped Sperry gyro compass this is about 2h 50m
• The period of an undamped gyro compass is the time it takes to
complete 360° of elliptic path. This is about 85 minutes
 TRANSMISSION AND REPEATER SYSTEM

• A transmitter is necessary to transmit the readings of the

Master compass to distant repeater compasses in various
positions on the ship
 The equipment getting heading inputs from gyro compass

• Radar
• ECDIS
• Auto Pilot
• Weapon control systems
• Plotting aids
Need for regular checking of the compass error
Due to change in latitude, course and speed the compass error should be
taken at regular intervals.

Compass error should be checked after a major alteration of course

After alteration of course the gyro as well as the magnetic compass error
should be taken. This since both are affected differently, errors on different
headings should be taken.
 CONSTRUCTION OF MAGNETIC COMPASS AND BINNACLE
Regular comparisons of standard compass, steering compass and gyrocompass should be
made
• Comparisons between magnetic compass and gyrocompass should be made once a
watch and after every alteration of course
• All the repeaters should be compared with the Master gyrocompass and the Magnetic
compass should be compared with the Master Gyrocompass so that while taking
bearings the error if any may be applied.
• Since the gyro is based on the electrical current fed to the gyroscope any earthing of the
supply would result in the gyro spinning less than at optimum speed and thus errors
may creep in.
• Also the synchro motors for the repeaters may sometimes slow down resulting in errors
of the repeaters.
• The sphere does not give any warning before it slows down. So it is always better to
compare before the watch and after every alteration to a new course
Advantages of Gyro Compass over the Magnetic compass
• Gyrocompasses are widely used for navigation on ships, because they have two
significant advantages over magnetic compasses
• They find true north as determined by Earth's rotation, which is different from,
and navigationally more useful than, magnetic north, and
• They are unaffected by ferromagnetic materials, such as ship's steel hull, which
change the magnetic field
A Magnetic compass may be compared to Gyro compass to find the error
• Since the gyro compass basically works on the principle of the torque required to tilt a
spinning wheel from its position of rest and that the earth’s tilt does not vary
sufficiently in a short time period, the gyro compass is more stable and is less affected
by local magnetism as well as the ship’s inherent magnetism.
• Whereas the magnetic compass is affected by the twin factors of variation and
deviation.
• Variation being sufficiently constant over a short time interval change in distance the
deviation is the major factor in causing error on various headings.
• Thus a magnetic compass may be compared with a gyro compass to arrive at an
approximate value of the error