Method and apparatus for on-chip measurement of micro-gyro scale factors
First Claim
1. A method for measuring the scale factor of a gyro having an inertial mass, comprising the steps of:
- driving said inertial mass in a periodic drive motion;
rotating said inertial mass about a rate axis perpendicular to the drive axis; and
detecting a Coriolis force generated in response to said periodic drive motion and said rotational motion about said rate axis.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Rotation of an inertial mass included in the gyro is produced by applying a torque to the inertial mass about a rate axis orthogonal to the drive axis along or about which the drive motion of the inertial mass is defined. The torque is applied by created a potential difference between interdigitated finger electrodes, by a piezoelectric element or any other known or later discovered means. The combination of the drive motion and the torque produces a Coriolis force which produces a displacement of a sense element coupled to the inertial mass or a displacement of the inertial mass itself. The induced rotation about the rate axis simulates the angular momentum which would be produced in the gyro by a precision rate table. This displacement or response is then an empirical parameter which characterizes the gyro'"'"'s response to a simulated rate table test and can then be used to generate a correction factor for the gyro and to thus calibrate it.
-
Citations
29 Claims
-
1. A method for measuring the scale factor of a gyro having an inertial mass, comprising the steps of:
-
driving said inertial mass in a periodic drive motion;
rotating said inertial mass about a rate axis perpendicular to the drive axis; and
detecting a Coriolis force generated in response to said periodic drive motion and said rotational motion about said rate axis. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
-
-
15. An improvement in a gyro having an inertial mass for measuring the scale factor of said gyro, comprising:
-
means for driving said inertial mass in a periodic drive motion;
means for rotating said inertial mass about a rate axis perpendicular to the drive axis; and
means for detecting a Coriolis force generated in response to said periodic drive motion and said rotational motion about said rate axis.
-
Specification