EXTENDED ACCURACY FLEXURED PLATE DUAL CAPACITANCE ACCELEROMETER
First Claim
1. An accelerometer system comprising:
- a housing;
a flexure plate system enclosed within said housing and comprising a first fixed plate, a second fixed plate spaced apart from and in parallel relation to said first fixed plate, and a flexure plate disposed between and in substantially parallel relation to said first fixed plate and said second fixed plate, wherein all the system flexure is generated within said flexure plate, and wherein said first fixed plate and said second fixed plate receive reference signals;
said flexure plate is rigidly fixed to said housing along at least an edge and electrically isolated from said housing, said flexure plate and the first fixed plate defining a first distance and a first capacitor and said flexure plate and said second fixed plate defining a second distance and a second capacitor, wherein said first and second distances vary in response to acceleration forces acting upon said flexure plate;
a symbol generator generating a precision sine wave at a known phase angle; and
a precision transformer receiving said precision sine wave and generating said reference signals therefrom.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A flexure plate accelerometer system includes a flexure plate and two fixed plates on either side of the flexure plate. The flexure plate generates a flexure plate signal as a function of reference signals received in the fixed plates. A precision transformer generates the reference signals from a precision sine wave generated by a symbol generator controlled by a microprocessor. The microprocessor controls the symbol generator and activates an analog-to-digital converter in response to a signal coincident with a positive and negative peak of the precision sine wave. The analog-to-digital converter generates a digital word from the flexure plate signal, which is processed further in the microprocessor.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. An accelerometer system comprising:
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a housing;
a flexure plate system enclosed within said housing and comprising a first fixed plate, a second fixed plate spaced apart from and in parallel relation to said first fixed plate, and a flexure plate disposed between and in substantially parallel relation to said first fixed plate and said second fixed plate, wherein all the system flexure is generated within said flexure plate, and wherein said first fixed plate and said second fixed plate receive reference signals;
said flexure plate is rigidly fixed to said housing along at least an edge and electrically isolated from said housing, said flexure plate and the first fixed plate defining a first distance and a first capacitor and said flexure plate and said second fixed plate defining a second distance and a second capacitor, wherein said first and second distances vary in response to acceleration forces acting upon said flexure plate;
a symbol generator generating a precision sine wave at a known phase angle; and
a precision transformer receiving said precision sine wave and generating said reference signals therefrom. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 18)
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12. An accelerometer system comprising:
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a housing;
a first flexure plate accelerometer rigidly fixed to said housing and electrically isolated from said housing wherein all the system flexure is generated within said flexure plate;
an amplifier adjusting an amplitude of a flexure plate signal from said first flexure plate accelerometer;
an analog-to-digital converter converting said flexure plate signal to a first digital word;
a symbol generator generating a precision sine wave at a known phase angle;
a precision transformer receiving said precision sine wave and generating reference signals therefrom, whereby said flexure plate signal is generated from said first flexure plate accelerometer as a function of said reference signals; and
a microprocessor comprising logic for controlling said symbol generator, said microprocessor further comprising logic activating said analog-to-digital converter in response to a signal coincident with a positive and negative peak of said precision sine wave, said microprocessor further comprising logic digitally filtering and rectifying said digital word, said microprocessor linearizing and co-adding said digital word. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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19. A method for operating an accelerometer system having a first fixed plate, a second fixed plate spaced apart from and in parallel relation to the first plate, and a flexure plate disposed between and in substantially parallel relation to the first fixed plate and the second fixed plate wherein said flexure plate is rigidly fixed to a housing and electrically isolated from said housing and wherein all the system flexure is generated within said flexure plate, comprising:
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accelerating the flexure plate;
generating a precision sine wave at a known phase angle;
generating reference signals as a function of said precision sine wave;
generating a flexure plate waveform from the flexure plate as a function of said reference signals being received by at least one of the first fixed plate and the second fixed plate;
activating analog-to-digital conversion of a flexure plate waveform in response to a signal coincident with a positive and negative peak of said precision sine wave; and
converting said flexure plate waveform signal to a digital word. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification