Two bar resonant beam Coriolis rate sensor
First Claim
1. An angular rate sensor comprising:
- an inertia ring having a first and a second side;
a center block;
a pair of flexures for inertia said inertia ring on said center block for torsional rotation of said inertia ring along an angular rate axis;
a first and a second force sensing transducers connected between said inertia ring and said center block in a push-pull arrangement and in a manner to constrain said inertia ring from rotating about said angular rate axis;
drive means for vibrating said first and second inertia ting sides at a frequency ω
in opposite directions along a vibration axis normal to said rate axis; and
processing means responsive to said first and second force sensing transducers and said drive means for generating an angular rate signal representing the angular rate of the sensor around said angular rate axis.
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Accused Products
Abstract
By configuring a mounting ring connected to a center block with a pair of flexures and having a pair of vibrating beam force transducers connected between the mounting ring and the center block, an angular rate sensor utilizing Coriolis acceleration can be fabricated out of silicon. In this sensor, vibration of the sides of the mounting ring along an axis normal to the angular rate axis is provided by a source of magnetic flux which interacts with a drive current applied through conductors deposited on the mounting ring. The magnetic flux is provided by a permanent magnet and a pair of pole pieces that encompass the mounting ring. A digital representation of angular rate is generated by demodulating the frequency of the force transducers by the frequency of vibration drive frequency to obtain the difference in the force transducer frequencies.
23 Citations
23 Claims
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1. An angular rate sensor comprising:
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an inertia ring having a first and a second side; a center block; a pair of flexures for inertia said inertia ring on said center block for torsional rotation of said inertia ring along an angular rate axis; a first and a second force sensing transducers connected between said inertia ring and said center block in a push-pull arrangement and in a manner to constrain said inertia ring from rotating about said angular rate axis; drive means for vibrating said first and second inertia ting sides at a frequency ω
in opposite directions along a vibration axis normal to said rate axis; andprocessing means responsive to said first and second force sensing transducers and said drive means for generating an angular rate signal representing the angular rate of the sensor around said angular rate axis. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A angular rate sensor comprising:
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an inertia ring having a first and a second side configured out of a block of silicon; a center block configured our of said block of silicon; a pair of flexures configured out of said block of silicon for inertia said block for torsional rotation of said block along an angular rate axis within said inertia ring; a first and a second dual beam force sensing transducers having output frequencies fn configured out of said block of silicon connected between said inertia ring and said center block in a push-pull arrangement and in a manner to constrain said center block from rotating about said angular rate axis; a source of magnetic flux including a first and a second pole piece spaced apart and located on each side of said inertia ring and a permanent magnet interposed between said first and second pole pieces; drive means, including a pair of conductors disposed one on said first and one on said second sides of said inertia ring responsive to said magnetic flux, for vibrating said first and second inertia ring sides in opposite directions at a frequency ω
along a vibration axis normal to said rate axis; andprocessing means, including means for demodulating said output frequencies f of first and second force sensing transducers at said vibration frequency ω
, for generating an angular rate signal representing the angular rate of the sensor around said angular rate axis. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification