Angular rate sensor electronic balance
First Claim
1. An angular rate sensor for providing a signal representative of angular motion relative to a predetermined axis, the angular rate sensor comprising:
- a plurality of vibrating beams formed from a predetermined substrate, said vibrating beams spaced apart and connected together at opposing ends, said plurality of vibrating beams including a drive beam;
means coupled to said drive beam for exciting said vibrating beams to cause said beams to vibrate in the plane of the substrate;
means for sensing output signals of at least two of said vibrating beams;
means for electrically balancing said output signals from said at least two vibrating beams to minimize the phase and magnitude differences in said output signals of said at least two vibrating beams.
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Abstract
An angular rate sensor includes a plurality of spaced apart vibrating beams, for example, four beams, defining a pair of outer beams and a pair of inner beams. Each outer beam is mechanically coupled to an inner beam by way of an interconnecting member. The outer beams are excited to cause them to vibrate in the plane of the beams and 180 degrees out of phase with the inner beams. In order to force the quadrature acceleration components to cancel out when geometric mismatches between the beams exist, the drive beams are driven separately at different amplitudes. By driving the beams at different amplitudes, the quadrature acceleration components of both beams can be matched, forcing such components to cancel to enable a single demodulator to be used for the Coriolis or angular rate signal.
56 Citations
17 Claims
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1. An angular rate sensor for providing a signal representative of angular motion relative to a predetermined axis, the angular rate sensor comprising:
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a plurality of vibrating beams formed from a predetermined substrate, said vibrating beams spaced apart and connected together at opposing ends, said plurality of vibrating beams including a drive beam; means coupled to said drive beam for exciting said vibrating beams to cause said beams to vibrate in the plane of the substrate; means for sensing output signals of at least two of said vibrating beams; means for electrically balancing said output signals from said at least two vibrating beams to minimize the phase and magnitude differences in said output signals of said at least two vibrating beams. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. An angular rate sensor for providing a signal representative of the angular motion relative to a predetermined axis, the angular rate sensor comprising:
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four vibrating beams, spaced apart and connected together at opposing ends from a predetermined substrate material defining an inner pair of beams and an outer pair of beams; interconnecting members for interconnecting one of said pair of outer beams with one of said pair of inner beams, adjacent thereto; means for exciting said inner pair of vibrating beams, said exciting means including means for exciting each beam separately and at different predetermined amplitudes to balance the output signals of said vibrating beams; means for sensing the output signals of the outer pair of vibrating beams; and a single demodulator for demodulating the output signals of said outer pair of beams and providing a signal representative of the angular rate of motion relative to said predetermined axis. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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15. An angular rate sensor for providing a signal representative of the angular motion relative to a predetermined axis, the angular rate sensor comprising:
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four vibrating beams, spaced apart and connected together at opposing ends from a predetermined substrate material defining an inner pair of beams and an outer pair of beams; interconnecting members for interconnecting one of said pair of outer beams with one of said pair of inner beams, adjacent thereto; means for exciting said outer pair of vibrating beams, said exciting means including means for exciting each beam separately and at different predetermined amplitudes to balance the output signals of said vibrating beams; means for sensing the output signals of the inner pair of vibrating beams; and a single demodulator for demodulating the output signals of said inner pair of beams and providing a signal representative of the angular rate of motion relative to said predetermined axis. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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Specification