A power balancing control to balance power output from a first and second engine that mutually drive a load is disclosed. The control includes an electronic control module electrically connected to a control panel. A first and second inlet manifold pressure sensor are associated with the first and second engine, respectively. An offset potentiometer is connected to the control panel. The control automatically adjusts power output of the second engine in response to the inlet manifold pressure of said first engine, the inlet manifold pressure of said second engine, and a signal produced by said offset potentiometer.

A photonic, wide-band analog to digital converter and method for converting an analog electrical signal to a digital electrical signal by electrical signal processing wherein the analog electrical signal is first converted to an optical signal having a wavelength which is a function of the amplitude of said analog electrical signal. The optical signal is then filtered in a plurality of optical filter channels to create N optical bit signals forming an N bit binary word indicating the wavelength of said optical signal. These optical bit signals are then each converted to an electrical bit signal to form an electrical binary word.

A control system for use with a master engine and one or more slave engines. The master engine produces a master torque and the slave engines produce slave torques. The master engine and the slave engines have computers that control fueling to the engines. The control system of the invention includes an interface between the control computer for the master engine and the control computers for the slave engines. The master control computer controls the slave control computers through the interface, such that the slave torques are a function of the master torque.

A control circuit for synchronizing the speed of a plurality of engines of an aircraft. The control circuit includes first and second counters for counting pulses in a reference pulse train and an engine speed pulse train over a predetermined time interval and third and fourth counters for determining the time between the last pulse of the reference pulse train counted during the predetermined time interval and the end of that time interval and the time between the last pulse of the engine speed pulse train counted during the predetermined time interval. The frequencies of the reference pulse train and speed pulse train in conjunction with inputs from the first, second, third and fourth counters are used to compute an average phase difference between the reference and speed pulse trains over the predetermined time interval. A fuel regulator responsive to a signal representative of the average phase difference controls the flow of fuel to the engines to modify their respective speeds to synchronize the engines' speed with a reference phase corresponding to an independently generated master signal.

Computerized system and method for controlling a plurality of internal combustion engines are provided. The system includes a respective speed sensor coupled to a corresponding engine to supply a respective speed sensor signal indicative of each engine's speed. The system further includes an electronic control unit coupled to receive each respective speed sensor signal. The control unit in turn includes a comparator module configured to compare each speed sensor signal relative to one another and supply a comparator output signal based on the magnitude of any differences between the engine speed signals. A processor module is responsive to the comparator output signal to adjust one or more engine operational parameters of one or more of the plurality of engines. The one or more engine operational parameters are responsive to respective control signals from the control unit to affect engine speed to reduce the magnitude of the engine speed differences so as to maintain each engine speed within a predefined range from one another.