Help me ID this old Chinese Jet part
September 24, 2017 2:36 AM   Subscribe

Hi all - came across this dial, reputedly off an old Chinese fighter jet. Can anyone help me work out what it used to show? I've picked a pilot's brains and the twin scales don't mean anything to him - can anyone here work it out? Or perhaps just read the Chinese marking! It has an electrical input, not a pressure one, if that helps any.
posted by prentiz to Technology (10 answers total)
 
I don't know anything about planes but it's labelled "公升" (gongsheng) meaning liter(metric), maybe it's a fuel dial?
posted by whitelotus at 3:37 AM on September 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


Several folks I've asked in the aviation fan-sphere agree that it's a fuel quantity indicator -- the yellow dot is typical of Soviet-sphere fuel gauges, for example: this photo of a MiG 21 cockpit (lower right), which I am familiar with from sim games. The scale markings are different but note the visual similarity. I'd be curious to know from anyone with real experience (I'm just an enthusiast who reads a lot).
posted by Alterscape at 4:48 AM on September 24, 2017 [2 favorites]


It looks like the dials with a yellow sticker on the Mig 17, Mig-15 and Mig-19.
posted by elgilito at 4:52 AM on September 24, 2017


prentiz, your ID challenge has got a bunch of people interested in another community I'm in. Could you please post photos of additional markings from the rest of the assembly? (Part numbers or other info plates would be great, but also the electrical connector and etc).
posted by Alterscape at 5:36 AM on September 24, 2017


Response by poster: Thanks all for very helpful input! Alterscape - can't see much else on it - but I've put a pic of the reverse up as well in case that helps.
posted by prentiz at 6:27 AM on September 24, 2017


It looks like a fuel gauge, and I think the two scales are conversions to another system. I was looking up Jin versus lb or kg but I can't make it work, but maybe it's a chinese measurement of mass on one scale and volume on the other?
posted by Brockles at 9:31 AM on September 24, 2017


Hmm, based on the note that the text means liters, I can't make the two scales work even for mass because the specific gravity of jet fuel doesn't give that conversion to the inner scale either.
posted by Brockles at 9:34 AM on September 24, 2017


Can you tell if the needle and the triangle both move, or is the triangle painted on to the dial? If they both move my bet is that the gauge is for two fuel tanks, probably the main (1300 liters) and aux or emergency tank (650 liters). Why the scaling is ever so slightly different is beyond me, but the human factors work that went in to that kind of stuff wasn't the greatest.
posted by backseatpilot at 10:40 AM on September 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


Backseatpilot, I think you're right. After reading your comment I took another look at the photos, and there appears to be a channel in between the legends in which the triangle could slide, moved from behind the face. Also supporting evidence: 4-pin connector, which I was originally reading as some kind of differential signaling, but could also be voltage, ground, and two signals.

No news from my side on what kind of aircraft it might be from. Some people I was talking to are hypothesizing it might be from a turbine helicopter -- too much fuel capacity for a single-engine fighter like a MiG-15; too little for a twin. It might be from a civil aircraft too, of course
posted by Alterscape at 5:32 PM on September 24, 2017


A friend of mine proposes that it may be from the Chinese version of an AN-2 biplane: pic 1; pic 2. In both cases the gauge is near the knee of the pilot (left side of the cockpit, near the yoke), and has similar scales and markings.
posted by Alterscape at 12:14 PM on November 12, 2017


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