Apparatus for Detecting Angular Velocity and Acceleration

• US 20110238363A1
• Filed: 02/17/2011
• Published: 09/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hitachi Automotive Systems Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi Automotive Systems Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Matsumoto, Masahiro, Asano, Satoshi, NAKAMURA, Toshiaki
• Application Number:
  US13/030,079
• Publication Number:
  US 20110238363A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/141
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 19/56 Turn-sensitive devices using vibrating masses, e.g. vibratory angular rate sensors based on Coriolis forces
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 19/5776 Signal processing not specific to any of the devices covered by groups G01C19/5607 - G01C19/5719
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 25/00 Manufacturing, calibrating, cleaning, or repairing instruments or devices referred to in the other groups of this subclass testing, calibrating or compensating compasses G01C17/38
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/08 with conversion into electric or magnetic values
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/18 in two or more dimensions
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 21/00 Testing or calibrating of apparatus or devices covered by the preceding groups

Abstract

An apparatus for detecting angular velocity and acceleration having diagnosing units for diagnosing the function of detecting angular velocity; diagnosing units for diagnosing the function of detecting acceleration; a diagnosing unit for a DSP or a MPU; multiple ROMs storing the same data; a diagnosing unit for the ROMs; a diagnosing unit for a RAM; a unit for outputting the outputs of the angular velocity sensor, the acceleration sensor and the results of diagnoses all together in response to an output command from an external device; and a unit for sending error detection codes along with the sensor outputs and the result of diagnoses when the sensor outputs and the results of diagnoses are outputted together.

Claims

1. An apparatus for detecting angular velocity and acceleration, comprising:

a vibrator unit which vibrates in first and second directions perpendicular to each other;

means for detecting a displacement amount of the vibrator unit as the angular velocity when the vibrator unit is displaced in the second direction due to generation of an angular velocity while the vibrator unit is vibrated in the first direction;

means, when vibrator units are displaced in first and second directions due to generation of an acceleration, for detecting displacement amounts in the first and second directions of the vibrator units as accelerations in the first and second directions; and

means for diagnosing functions of the means for detecting the angular velocity and the means for detecting the accelerations, wherein

said apparatus outputs a sensor signal including the detected angular velocity and the detected acceleration, and a result of diagnosis together to an external device in response to a single communication demand from the external device.

2. The apparatus for detecting angular velocity and acceleration according to claim 1, wherein

the result of diagnosis outputted to the external device includes information about results of the diagnoses of a drive function of an angular velocity sensor, a detection function of the angular velocity sensor, a detection functions of an acceleration sensor, an operation of a microprocessor or digital signal processors, ROMs, and a RAM.

3. The apparatus for detecting angular velocity and acceleration according to claim 1, wherein the sensor signal outputted to the external device includes the detected angular velocity, the detected accelerations, and the detected temperature.

4. An apparatus for detecting angular velocity and acceleration, comprising

a vibrator unit which vibrates in first and second directions perpendicular to each other, wherein

a displacement amount of the vibrator unit is detected as the angular velocity when the vibrator unit is displaced in the second direction due to a generation of an angular velocity while the vibrator unit is vibrated in the first direction, and displacement amounts of vibrator units in first and the second directions are detected as accelerations,

an external device receives a results of diagnosis and a sensor signal including the detected angular velocity and the detected accelerations all together, and judges whether or not the sensor signal is valid based on the result of diagnosis.

5. An apparatus for detecting angular velocity and acceleration, comprising

a vibrator unit which vibrates in first and second directions perpendicular to each other, wherein

a displacement amount of the vibrator unit is detected as the angular velocity when the vibrator unit is displaced in the second direction due to a generation of an angular velocity while the vibrator unit is vibrated in the first direction, and displacement amounts of vibrator units in first and the second directions are detected as accelerations,

the apparatus further comprises:

a unit for converting the detected angular velocity and the detected acceleration to digital signals; and

a unit for executing the self-diagnoses of the apparatus for detecting angular velocity and acceleration through digital signal processing.

6. The apparatus for detecting angular velocity and acceleration according to claim 5, wherein the unit for executing the self-diagnosis of the apparatus for detecting angular velocity and acceleration through digital signal processing is a microprocessor or a digital signal processor.

7. The apparatus for detecting angular velocity and acceleration according to claim 5, wherein the self-diagnoses of the apparatus include the diagnoses of a drive function and a detecting function of an angular acceleration sensor, a detecting function of an acceleration sensor, an arithmetic function of a micro processor or a digital signal processor, a data saving function of a ROM and a data read/write function of a RAM.

8. An apparatus for detecting angular velocity and acceleration, comprising

a vibrator unit which vibrates in first and second directions perpendicular to each other, wherein

a displacement amount of the vibrator unit is detected as the angular velocity when the vibrator unit is displaced in the second direction due to a generation of an angular velocity while the vibrator unit is vibrated in the first direction, and displacement amounts of vibrator units in first and the second directions are detected as accelerations, and

the apparatus further comprises a multiple ROM configuration;

and a self-diagnoses function, the self-diagnoses function including the diagnoses of a drive function of an angular velocity sensor, a detecting function of the angular velocity sensor, a detecting function of the acceleration sensor, an arithmetic function of a micro processor or a digital signal processor, a data saving function of a ROM and a data read/write functions of a RAM.

9. An apparatus for detecting angular velocity and acceleration, comprising:

an angular velocity sensor unit which has a vibrator capable of displacing in first and second directions perpendicular to each other, and detects the angular velocity by vibrating the vibrator in the first direction;

an acceleration sensor unit which detects displacements in the first and second directions as accelerations;

ROMs having a multiple configuration and storing coefficients therein;

a RAM for temporarily storing data; and

a micro processor or a digital signal processor which uses the coefficients read out of the ROMs to store data in the RAM, and corrects the vibration of the vibrator, signals from the angular velocity sensor unit and the acceleration sensor unit,

wherein the apparatus further comprises a diagnosing unit for diagnosing a drive function of the angular velocity sensor unit, a detecting function of the angular velocity sensor unit, a detecting function of the acceleration sensor unit, an arithmetic function of the micro processor or the digital signal processor, and a data read/write function of a RAM.