Hi welcome to Tear Down Tuesday You've seen this on the mail bag in a previous video. It's the Cypress Parachute emergency release system. So you know if you're parachuting, you get knocked out or you're just too busy enjoying the view, You forget to pull your shoot if you get to 700 ft or so if you're going fast enough, this thing kicks in. blows a pyrotechnic uh, charge through a cord and boom releases your parachute.

and uh, this is quite should be quite an interesting device. And I thought we'd tear it down. It could actually be a little bit difficult, but I expect there to be a whole bunch of interesting stuff in here. At least it's well engineered cuz this thing's got a 10year lifetime.

Uh, pretty much it changed the battery every couple of years. 10year? Lifetime and it should be built to. You know, an excellent standard in terms of shock vibration. you know, uh, moisture.

Ingress All sorts of stuffs so could be really interesting. Let's check it out. And thanks to Steven in Kbad California who sent this in again? and um, here's the uh, pyrotechnic charge. By the way, a lot of people said, uh, be, uh, quite careful with this cuz it could go off with quite a hell of a bang and it's onetime use only.

It's got a little cutter in there, so presumably when you, uh, apply a voltage on there, it's got a uh, neat little, uh, sort of like a Phono type connector system here, and uh, hopefully. well, let's plug it in. and no, it's not going to go bang on us. but uh, that looks quite robust and quite rigid, but you can actually disconnect that so there's no.

um, it does still have the battery inside so there's no risk of it. uh, going off now, but little cutter in there pyrotechnic charge? uh, fires the blade up through there, which you put the your nylon cord through and it slices it and uh, that releases your reserve parachute. So let's have a look at the unit itself and uh, it looks like it's got a battery. uh, compartment on the top.

Here, you're supposed to I Think it's uh, where does it say it's made in Germany of course and uh, it was checked in 2007. Um, and it did have a battery change sticker on it. There it is. last battery change uh, 10th month 09 so you know and it still works.

Um, so presumably you only have to change the battery every couple of years. You set it once, basically at the start of the day before you go parachuting, you turn the thing on and it just sits there waiting, waiting, waiting. There is a should be some sort of um sensor that sensors the air pressure and uh, and you know your rate of fall. Maybe there's an accelerometer inside or something like that.

and uh, if you're going fast enough at a low enough altitude under 700 ft and you're going above a certain speed bang, It ignites the Pyic charge. so let's open this thing up and take a look. It's got a battery in here. Probably a Lithium, of course, because it's got to.

This thing's got to work over temperature extremes. It's waterproof, so I' expect it to be water sealed or hermetically sealed. The electronics anyway. Um, so it could be.

Hey, there we go. Yep, Primary Lithium batteries? That's uh, exactly. Uh Germany German I'm I'm assuming they'd be Lithium? I'm pretty DN Sure they would be. And look, there's some sort of sensor in there.

Is that a, uh, a thermo couple or something measuring the battery temperature? I'm not sure what's going on there, but that's what. I Exactly what I would have expected. Um, same with like, uh, GPS units and things like that that are designed to activate once and then be used. Uh, long term.

they've got Lithium primary batteries in them. So yeah, yeah. there we go. Okay, so oh okay, that's interesting.

Check that out. There's the there's the battery connector and you Yeah, Okay, so you slide that in. Yep, that goes in there like that. and uh, there too.

Well, they're actually Cyprus branded. Um, where are we Airtech safety system. So they've actually had them made for them. Doesn't actually say cuz you know it's there.

It is this little um, you know, matching symbol. They've got it specifically branded batteries. It looks like we have a fuse there in series with the batteries. and up here this has got to be I would know.

There we go. Ah, it's a cap. There you go. So much for a Thermo couple.

It's an axial capacitor. go figure. Why have they? That is bizarre. Why have they put an axial capacitor in there? What is that? Uh, it's a 10vt axial cap.

Can't get the reading on there. But uh yeah, that's weird. There you go. Anyway, that's it.

And it looks like it is sealed around there. I See, uh, some silicon sealant around that. So they've completely. uh yeah, it's hermetically sealed.

You can see it. See it around here. It's actually been sealed. so this is going to require some percussive maintenance to get apart.

I Suspect we'll measure the battery here. It should be two Lithium primaries in series. Bam. There we go.

7.3 volts. We have a warning here: Do Not Remove seal. Okay I won't remove the seal. I'll just break it.

Tada warranty void and this: This is weird. This sort of. this is where the uh. this is the connector for the pyrotechnic charge.

And for some reason it's like got a separate little separate little compartment here. So let me try and wiggle this thing off. It's rather unusual. Well, that's rather strange.

It's a four-way connector there with two wires and there's going into just this little backshell thing here with a silicon adhesive on the wires there for some strain relief. I'm assuming there's some surface mount. couple of surface mount caps in there, so they're probably to, uh, uh, you know, uh, keep out any uh uh, noise or possibly ESD or something like that from I don't know. setting off the pyrotechnic charge perhaps? Um, and it's all shielded.

Of course, there's a shielding wire in in there and it's all yeah, why they've gone to sort of that trouble. Um, it. It beats me. and it is a shield.

uh, fully shielded case here. Of course. you know you wouldn't want to. um, you wouldn't want it to be set off by somebody's you know, radio or uh, you know, something like that.

Or you know, if they've got in a uh radio talking to each other or something else. Um, you certainly wouldn't want the thing to go bang on you. That would, uh, ruin your day. So it's it's it's weird.

It's yeah. it's a metal can. Some sort of metal shielded can like foil shielded? I think yeah. Looks like it's foil shielded with a plastic over the top.

so we're going to have to. might even have to get out the Dremel Maybe M I Love the smell of dremeled plastic in the afternoon. Ah, wonderful. F for fail perhaps? I don't know.

Um, yeah, the plastic popped off there and we're left with our metal shielded can. Tada So looks like we're going to have to get into this sucker as well. Oh man. rather interesting here.

This looks to be like a flat that lifts up. So I'm going to desolder that that pops off real easy. There we go. Taada.

Hey look at that. We have some configuration jumpers and those jumpers would of course, uh, you know, let them manufacture this thing sh completely Shield it and then, uh, presumably, um, do configuration afterwards I Don't know what type of uh configuration? Maybe it's the uh, you know, the uh level that it goes off at or something like that. it? you know, they maybe they have different models? Yeah, actually I think they do. They have different models that go off, um, at different levels.

you know, based if you got, uh, like a single jumper or a tandem jumper or a student jumper or whatever. So um, no pun intended they changed the jumper switch based on the jumper. Now we could try and desolder this all nicely. But really? I think we better off just prying and then cutting the damn thing open.

Hey, oh, look at that potting compound. What? So yeah? I mean you can just cut these things open I Mean there's no, um, don't use your good uh side? Cutters By the way, use your cheap one hung low ones to do this. but uh yeah, we have potted Electronics in there there it is. Bo it's ah oh, hang on, no, hang on.

hey no, it's just like an outer, uh, an outer layer of potting or something. Anyway, let's open. finish this off, cracking it open and see what we've got. and I'm starting to see pressure sensor there.

There it is classic. uh shap, classic, uh style of pressure sensor. It'll become clearer once we open this thing. and here it is minus its metal can.

one big sticky, gooey mess of uh, easy entry potting compound. It's not solid, uh, potting compound, but it's this. really. it's called a re-enter uh, potting compound.

it basically. um, I've used this stuff before and it's really neat because you can, actually, uh, seal stuff but then afterwards, uh, after it seal you can. you can penetrate it with a screwdriver and you can get in there and you can adjust pots and things like that and then pull it back out and it'll reeal itself automatically. So that's why it's called re-enter cuz you can re-enter it and then it self seals.

That was gee a long time ago. I Used this stuff but it's really neat. really is neat stuff and they've put this my wrap around the oh man, how gooey and G that is. That's really yeah.

this is just as I remember this stuff really sticky. so they've put these uh like Mya type sheets or whatever they are capped on or whatever on between the Um between the circuitry and the the boards and the metal can so that the metal can can't short out the electronic so if it gets crushed or anything like that, it's still going to survive and not not sure. Oh man, this is. yeah, it's as horrible as I Remember terrible stuff, terrible, terrible, terrible.

but so that's in there, that's all protected by that And then they've gunked it all up. This is a real fascinating uh. theyve gone to a bit more trouble than I had envisaged. This is great.

It's like pulling you know, cobwebs off something. It's uh. so we've got one main Plcc device here and another s oh man, this is going to take forever. Yucko.

there's our Cre. We got a real time clock Crystal 32 khz watch crystal there. the main oscill the main Crystal there for the oscillator. For whatever that device is, there's the pressure sensor.

It's the classic uh Port type there and they've just used. you know, and off the shelf. uh one. you can see why it's um how it's got that Ridge on there.

it's designed to have like a tube go over it. Uh so they' oh man, this is great. Oh hours of fun and enjoyment. This re-enter potting compound I'm telling you, get some, it's brilliant.

Uh I can't remember like the brand of stuff we used to use or the or the Uh brand and model of the re-enter stuff but it's exactly the same. has the same sticky consistency after it's set I think it was a two-part um stuff and uh yeah, we use this for where like, we had to, um, adjust pots and things after. Well, we had to potentially, uh, adjust pots after it was all sealed so is. Well, you know it's a two.

Bard Construction: They've got 0.1 in header solded directly on. There looks like there's no socket there. it's directly solded across. and uh, that's all there is to it.

It's not high density stuff. I Mean you know we've got these, um, large, uh, to 220s look much look like, well, they were to 220s, but they've had their tabs, uh, chopped off I'm not aware of an actual commercial. There's a bit of myar instulation as well between um, these devices so these tabs don't short out presumably. um, so they've put that all the way down in there.

They put some on the back as well, against the connector. but I don't recall there being a package like that with a half moon chopped off. It's certainly does look like they've chopped off the tabs to make this fit. H and you can see them.

They're clearly been chopped off all right. and uh, I wonder who would have done that? Even the manufacturer? They probably wouldn't have had a bar of that, um, the actual Uh device manufacturer themselves. I Don't know. Maybe you could order them with half of their tab chopped off, but more likely done at the assembler or something like that.

They would have designed, uh, a jig to chop that. off without putting much, uh, physical, uh, strain on the device at all. Um, so you don't affect the long-term reliability of the device, but uh, here you go. It's rather rather interesting that they've gone to that much trouble.

um, presumably. Of course the big Gut Power devices are for, um, firing the pyrotechnic charge which I assume uh, requires uh, you know, probably a substantial amount of current I don't know. I'm not into firing the circuits you required to fire pyot Technic charges. but uh, that would be the only reason why you'd have, uh, large power devices like that in such a device.

And of course, with the jumper there, you'd have to be very careful that, uh, you know you like this after you've put that Jumper in place cuz you wouldn't want to get a bad contact on that because you slid it, uh, you know, over some potting compound. but isn't that wonderful? Oh, it's great stuff I Love it! I'm going to have hours of fun with this now. The other really annoying thing about this is that there's a whole bunch of circuitry on these boards in here on the, you know, on the other side of the board. So to really do a proper hair down, I'm going to have to desolder I'm going to have to clean off all of the gunk and uh, desolder.

Um, these boards that's really rather annoying And these, uh, pressure sensors, they They're available in several types. One is the Um absolute Uh pressure sensor which measures the difference between uh, the pressure on the port and an absolute vacuum inside. uh, another type is uh, the differential pressure sensor. These will have two ports on them where it measures the difference between one pressure and another.

This is obviously not a differential Uh type in that case. um, it's most likely a gauge. uh, Uh sensor which measures the Uh pressure coming in the port to the ambient Uh pressure. And there was something in the manual I don't recall.

I'm not going to check it about um, this thing. you know, uh, being set to uh, ground pressure and then it or it continually samples against Uh I Think it continually samples or something like that. Um, to take out the effects of air pressure changes. and of course I Think desoldering.

This thing is too much of a pain in the butt, so easiest way to do it is to just get in there. Thankfully, they've used 0.1 in and cut all of these pins all the way around this thing and hopefully H we can pop the two boards apart. almost almost there. Oh, this is just so un electronic.

it's not funny. Hey T Oh we. Finally there was an extra bastard connector in there or something. Was it? That's what was causing the problems.

Have a maximum device and bingo we're in. The main thing that strikes you here is just, um, how old school this design really is I mean there's a um Motorola MC 68 HC 68 uh, real time clock chip. There's the real time. uh Clock Crystal there.

We've got a just a 74 series uh gate there and this I can barely make out the number on it. um, but I'm But it's definitely a motor roller zc4 something or other. Well, it's definitely a microcontroller Slpr processor or definitely a microcontroller cuz there's no external memory on this thing. but uh, can't quite make out the rest of it.

Unfortunately, there's some crap and Gunk on there, but yeah, it's some sort of old school Mo Motorola um, which is now free scale processor on the thing and on the back here. Um, you know it gets even more old school. We've got a maximum um ICL 7109 in a Plcc package like that that is a 12-bit um ADC for uh, sampling the pressure sensor of course and you know, um, really? you know, incredibly, um, old school stuff. So it's based on a legacy design.

Maybe they've had this design around for you know, 15 years or something and uh, they just haven't bothered to upgrade it. Really? I Don't really blame them. Um, because you probably have to get this thing qualified and all sorts of things for uh, in terms of you know, um, a critical um, application like this that saves people's lives. So uh, you know, it's probably all coded in assembler and they would have maybe had to get all the uh, source code approved like they do in um, you know, intrinsically safe and other uh uh products and stuff like that.

So um, and and other life support applications so you know. couple of caps here with the leads bent over, you know, very sort of, uh, hackery kind of stuffs and it just looks like we've got some uh, old style M resistors here and a LT 1079 which is a Precision opamp so that's all that's on that board. um, you know, and Op amp. So they've got some uh, gain and stuff.

uh, they've got the ADC and they've got the processor with old school processor with a real time clock and presumably that's a voltage regulator over there for that. but uh, yeah, not much else. And on the back of the board here, they got an Lt120 which just as is, just a positive voltage regulator. And check out this bodge up here.

we look at these M resistors, sold it in and this package over here I Don't know what that is, um, but they've obviously decided to bodge that in. There's another bodge here with another uh, 100n cap and is that a is that a diode in there? Anyway, that is. you know bodge Central really and uh, But you know they've decided that, uh, you know, these are all probably hand, You know, they're all handmade. They're not produced in massive volumes, they're probably produced by the thousands or something like that.

They certainly not produced by the millions. And they've got a couple of electrolytics on this board. They're 105 uh rated. They would be absolute.

Uh Primo Prime spec. You know this is a high reliability device. Um, you know, 10year? uh. lifespan? I'm surprised they used electrolytics in here at all actually.

but I guess they uh, deem, they had to um in that particular location. Now as a the let's take a look and see if we can figure out what these to 220s are Probably just some power transistors and you're able to just see that marking in there. It's a Buuk 45 which is a power mosfet, no surprise. So they're clearly uh, using those to, uh, maybe in a Hbd? uh configuration? who knows to drive the pyot Technic um firing device on there.

So there you have it. there's the Cyprus made in Germany hi to German viewers. uh, parachute? uh, emergency deployment system or whatever it's called anyway. Um, there was rather interesting.

Pretty much exactly what I expected in there. It was just a pressure sensor with a micro processor in there. Um, so you know, really? there's um, nothing else uh in there I didn't no, like, you know, accelerometer or anything like that. So obviously they're uh, clearly just using the pressure sensor to detect the height and uh, well, you know, really? Okay, um, it's like only it deploys about 4 seconds before you hit the ground.

so well, obviously they've done their testing on this thing and uh, determined that you know it's uh, it's good enough. it does the job. Al I Haven't uh, sat down to think about I'm not entirely sure how the uh pressure sensor was, uh, working in such a, uh, sealed, um, a reasonably, uh, well sealed enclosure like that? Um, so you know. Anyway, um, they are able to get this, uh, sucker to uh, uh, actually release You know, 4 seconds before you hit the ground and it's got to be ultra reliable.

People's lives depend on these things and people's lives have been saved by this thing. um, by it firing at the right time. So if you got any, uh, better ideas on exactly how they've uh, implemented, uh, this, possibly, uh, jump on over to the Forum and discuss it.