Oscillation gyro and an inspection apparatus therefor

• US 5,600,063 A
• Filed: 11/30/1994
• Issued: 02/04/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Ogawa, Kenji
• Primary Examiner(s): Williams, Hezron E.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MOLLER, RICHARD ALAN
• Application Number:
  US08/352,032
• Time in Patent Office: 797 Days
• Field of Search: 73/504.02, 73/504.03, 73/504.12, 73/504.16
• US Class Current: 73/504.03
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 19/5649 Signal processing

Abstract

A vibration gyro which comprises an oscillator; a plurality of piezoelectric units for oscillating the oscillator in a predetermined driving-axis direction; piezoelectric unit driving means for driving the plurality of piezoelectric units by supplying an electric power to a common electrode of the plurality of piezoelectric units; a plurality of current-voltage converting means each for converting a current outputted from each of noncommon electrodes of the plurality of piezoelectric units to a voltage; eliminating means for eliminating damping components of the plurality of piezoelectric units by amplifying an output of the piezoelectric unit driving means by a predetermined amplification factor, shifting a phase of an amplified signal by a predetermined angle, shunting the amplified signal, and supplying each of shunted signals to each of the plurality of current-voltage converting means; adding means for adding outputs of the plurality of current-voltage converting means and for feeding back an added value respectively to the plurality of the current-voltage converting means; and error calculating means for calculating a difference between the outputs of the plurality of current-voltage converting means.

Claims

1. A vibration gyro comprising:

an oscillator;

a plurality of piezoelectric units for oscillating said oscillator in a predetermined driving-axis direction, each of the piezoelectric units having a common electrode in common with each of the other piezoelectric units, a noncommon electrode, and a resistive component;

piezoelectric unit driving means for driving said plurality of piezoelectric units by supplying an electric power signal to said common electrode of said plurality of piezoelectric units;

a plurality of current-voltage converting means each for converting a current output from the noncommon electrode of one of said plurality of piezoelectric units to a voltage and outputting said voltage as a converted signal;

eliminating means for eliminating damping components of the currents output from said plurality of piezoelectric units by amplifying by a predetermined amplification factor said electric power signal supplied from said piezoelectric unit driving means, altering by a predetermined angle a phase of the amplified electric power signal, dividing the amplified electric power signal having the altered phase, and supplying the divided signals to said plurality of current-voltage converting means;

adding means for adding the converted signals output from said plurality of current-voltage converting means and feeding back an added value to each of said plurality of current-voltage converting means, thereby decreasing the amplitude of said converted signals; and

error calculating means for calculating a difference between the outputs of said plurality of current-voltage converting means and outputting a signal representing said difference, wherein the difference signal indicates an angular velocity of said oscillator.

2. The vibration gyro according to claim 1, wherein said piezoelectric unit driving means feeds back an output of said adding means to the common electrodes of said plurality of piezoelectric elements.

3. The vibration gyro according to claim 2, wherein said piezoelectric unit driving means comprises an added output amplifying means for amplifying an output of said adding means;

and amplitude controlling means for controlling an output of the added power amplifying means such that the amplitude of said output of said adding means becomes a predetermined value.

4. The vibration gyro according to claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of current-voltage converting means includes a low-pass filter and said adding means includes a phase lead compensating means for compensating for a phase lag caused by said low-pass filter.

5. A vibration gyro comprising:

an oscillator;

a plurality of piezoelectric units for oscillating said oscillator in a predetermined driving-axis direction, each of the piezoelectric units having a common electrode in common with each of the other piezoelectric units, a noncommon electrode, and a resistive component;

piezoelectric unit driving means for driving said plurality of piezoelectric units by supplying an electric power signal to said common electrode of said plurality of piezoelectric units;

a plurality of current-voltage converting means each for converting a current output from the noncommon electrode of one of said plurality of piezoelectric units to a voltage and outputting said voltage as a converted signal;

eliminating means for eliminating damping components of the currents output from said plurality of piezoelectric units by amplifying by a predetermined amplification factor said electric power signal supplied from said piezoelectric unit driving means, altering by a predetermined angle a phase of the amplified electric power signal, dividing the amplified electric power signal having the altered phase, and supplying the divided signals to said plurality of current-voltage converting means;

error calculating means for calculating a difference between the outputs of said plurality of current-voltage converting means and outputting a signal representing said difference;

synchronism sampling means for outputting a synchronism signal in synchronism with a resistance error signal caused by an error due to said resistance components of said plurality of piezoelectric units based on the converted signals output from said plurality of current-voltage converting means; and

synchronism detecting means connected to said error calculating means for detecting said signal output from said error calculating means based on said synchronism signal and outputting a detected signal, wherein said detected signal indicates an angular velocity of the oscillator.

6. The vibration gyro according to claim 5, wherein said synchronism sampling means includes phase shifting means for shifting by a predetermined angle a phase of said converted signal output from each of said plurality of the current-voltage converting means, and a comparing means for comparing an output of said phase shifting means with a reference value.

7. The vibration gyro according to claim 5, further comprising adding means for adding the converted signals output from said plurality of current-voltage converting means and feeding back an added value to each of said plurality of current-voltage converting means, thereby decreasing the amplitude of said converted signals.

8. The vibration gyro according to claim 5, wherein said detected signal includes the resistance error signal, the vibration gyro further comprising a low pass filter for eliminating said resistance error signal from said detected signal.