Resonance type angular velocity sensor
First Claim
1. A resonance based angular velocity sensor, comprising:
- a mass portion;
a pair of mass displacement supporting bases configured to support said mass portion therebetween and disposed in an excitation direction of the mass portion;
at least one mass displacement direction supporting beam extending from said mass displacement supporting bases to said mass portion and configured to support said mass portion in such a manner as to allow said mass portion to be displaced by a Coriolis force generated in a direction perpendicular to both directions of the excitation direction of the mass portion and a rotational axis direction of a sensor angular velocity;
a plurality of mass excitation supporting beam members configured to support said mass displacement supporting bases and to inhibit said mass displacement supporting bases from displacing due to said Coriolis force while allowing said mass portion to vibrate in said excitation direction;
an exciter configured to excite said mass portion by exciting said mass displacement supporting bases; and
a displacement detector configured to detect a displacement of said mass portion caused by said Coriolis force, thereby detecting the sensor angular velocity based on said displacement.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A resonance type angular velocity sensor is provided with a mass displacement supporting beam (20, 21, 22, 23) for supporting a vibration in a detecting direction due to a Coriolis force of a mass portion (1) and a mass excitation supporting beam for supporting a mass displacement supporting base portion (24, 25) in such a manner as to allow the mass portion (1) to vibrate away from the beam in an excitation direction. When the mass displacement supporting base portion (24) is excited in the excitation direction by an opposing comb exciting electrode (51), the mass portion (1) vibrates. A projecting electrode (31) is provided in a side surface of the Coriolis force detecting direction of the mass portion (1) and capacity detecting electrodes (30, 32) are disposed in such a manner as to oppose this. When the Coriolis force acts on the mass portion (1) vibrating in the excitation direction, the mass portion (1) vibrates also in the detecting direction so that the capacity change is detected by the capacity detecting electrodes (30, 32). In such a case, it is possible to provide a mechanism for applying a stress to the beam members (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17) so as to adjust the exciting frequency.
80 Citations
35 Claims
-
1. A resonance based angular velocity sensor, comprising:
-
a mass portion; a pair of mass displacement supporting bases configured to support said mass portion therebetween and disposed in an excitation direction of the mass portion; at least one mass displacement direction supporting beam extending from said mass displacement supporting bases to said mass portion and configured to support said mass portion in such a manner as to allow said mass portion to be displaced by a Coriolis force generated in a direction perpendicular to both directions of the excitation direction of the mass portion and a rotational axis direction of a sensor angular velocity; a plurality of mass excitation supporting beam members configured to support said mass displacement supporting bases and to inhibit said mass displacement supporting bases from displacing due to said Coriolis force while allowing said mass portion to vibrate in said excitation direction; an exciter configured to excite said mass portion by exciting said mass displacement supporting bases; and a displacement detector configured to detect a displacement of said mass portion caused by said Coriolis force, thereby detecting the sensor angular velocity based on said displacement. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 29, 30)
-
-
19. A pair of resonance based angular velocity sensors, each sensor comprising:
-
a mass portion; a pair of mass displacement supporting bases configured to support said mass portion therebetween and disposed in an excitation direction of the mass portion; at least one mass displacement direction supporting beam extending from said respective mass displacement supporting bases to said mass portion and configured to support said mass portion in such a manner as to allow said mass portion to be displaced by a Coriolis force generated in a direction perpendicular to both directions of the excitation direction of the mass portion and a rotational axis direction of a sensor angular velocity; a plurality of mass excitation supporting beam members configured to support said mass displacement supporting bases and to inhibit said mass displacement supporting base from displacing due to said Coriolis force while allowing said mass portion to vibrate in said excitation direction; an exciter configured to excite said mass portion by exciting said mass displacement supporting bases; and a displacement detector configured to detect displacement of said mass portion caused by said Coriolis force, thereby detecting the sensor angular velocity based on said displacement, each of the mass portions of said two resonance based angular velocity sensors being excited in an inverted phase to each other in the same excitation direction. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31, 32)
-
-
33. A sensor formed on a substrate, comprising:
-
a mass portion; a pair of mass displacement supporting bases configured to support said mass portion therebetween and disposed in an excitation direction of the mass portion parallel to a plane of said substrate; at least one mass displacement direction supporting beam extending from said respective mass displacement supporting bases to said mass portion and configured to support said mass portion in such a manner as to allow said mass portion to be displaced by a Coriolis force generated in a direction perpendicular to both directions of the excitation direction of the mass portion and a rotational axis direction of a sensor angular velocity; a plurality of mass excitation supporting beam members configured to support said mass displacement supporting bases and to inhibit said mass displacement supporting bases from displacing due to said Coriolis force while allowing said mass portion to vibrate in said excitation direction; an exciter configured to excite said mass portion by exciting said mass displacement supporting bases; and a displacement detector configured to detect a displacement of said mass portion caused by said Coriolis force. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35)
-
Specification