Axi-symmetric small-footprint gyroscope with interchangeable whole-angle and rate operation
First Claim
1. A micromachined Coriolis vibratory ring gyroscope comprising:
- a toroidal outer anchor;
a distributed suspension system having an innermost portion, disposed within the toroidal outer anchor, and concentrically coupled to the outer anchor; and
an electrode assembly disposed in the center of the distributed suspension system and having a capacitive gap between the electrode assembly and the innermost portion of the distributed suspension system, the electrode assembly driving the distributed suspension system into oscillation by electrostatic forces,where the electrode assembly driving the distributed suspension system into oscillation by electrostatic forces comprises an electrode assembly driving the gyroscope in any of a plurality of wineglass modes provided that the wineglass mode shape has a degenerate mode pair.
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Abstract
A toroidal ring gyroscope with a robust outer perimeter anchor and a distributed suspension system. The vibrational energy in the design is concentrated towards the innermost ring, and the device is anchored at the outer perimeter. The distributed support structure prevents vibrational motion propagating to the outer anchor, which helps trap the vibrational energy within the gyroscope and provides a Q-factor of >100,000 at a compact size of 1760 μm. Due to the parametric pumping effect, energy added to each mode is proportional to the existing amplitude of the respective mode. As a result, errors associated with finding the orientation of the standing wave and x-y drive gain drift are bypassed. The toroidal ring gyroscope can be fabricated using any standard silicon on insulator process. Due to the high Q-factor and robust support structure, the device can potentially be instrumented in high-g environments that require high angular rate sensitivity.
20 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A micromachined Coriolis vibratory ring gyroscope comprising:
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a toroidal outer anchor; a distributed suspension system having an innermost portion, disposed within the toroidal outer anchor, and concentrically coupled to the outer anchor; and an electrode assembly disposed in the center of the distributed suspension system and having a capacitive gap between the electrode assembly and the innermost portion of the distributed suspension system, the electrode assembly driving the distributed suspension system into oscillation by electrostatic forces, where the electrode assembly driving the distributed suspension system into oscillation by electrostatic forces comprises an electrode assembly driving the gyroscope in any of a plurality of wineglass modes provided that the wineglass mode shape has a degenerate mode pair. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A micromachined Coriolis vibratory ring gyroscope comprising:
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a toroidal outer anchor; a distributed suspension system having an innermost portion, disposed within the toroidal outer anchor, and concentrically coupled to the outer anchor; and an electrode assembly disposed in the center of the distributed suspension system and having a capacitive gap between the electrode assembly and the innermost portion of the distributed suspension system, the electrode assembly driving the distributed suspension system into oscillation by electrostatic forces, where the distributed suspension comprises a plurality of concentrically disposed rings coupled to one another, and where the plurality of concentrically disposed rings comprises a concentrically disposed innermost ring which has a greater thickness than the other ones of the plurality of concentrically disposed rings.
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Specification