Acceleration sensor
First Claim
1. An acceleration sensor comprising:
- a substrate;
a vibrator connected to said substrate and having three-dimensional freedom;
a magnetic body mounted on said vibrator; and
at least four detector elements for detecting a variation of a magnetic field caused by a displacement of said magnetic body,wherein said acceleration sensor detects each of;
acceleration in a direction of an X axis in the orthogonal spatial coordinate axes of X, Y and Z based on output signals of at least two of said detector elements due to variation of the magnetic field;
acceleration in a direction of the Y-axis based on output signals of at least two other of said detector elements due to variation of the magnetic field; and
acceleration in a direction of the Z-axis based on output signals of said at least four detector elements.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A three-dimensional acceleration sensor having a magnetic body including a mass point, mounted to a vibrator having three-dimensional freedom and an axis in line with a Z-axis within the orthogonal spatial coordinate axes of X, Y and Z. The acceleration sensor includes four or more detector elements including at least two positioned along the X-axis and at least two positioned along the Y-axis with their centers located along a concentric circle around the origin point of the coordinate axes. The sensor detects acceleration in a direction of the X-axis through a relative difference in output voltage between two of the detector elements positioned along the X-axis due to a variation of magnetic field intensity from the magnetic body, acceleration in a direction of the Y-axis through a relative difference in output voltage between two of the detector elements positioned along the Y-axis, and acceleration in a direction of the Z-axis through an aggregate sum of the output voltages of all the detector elements. The acceleration sensor thus has a wide dynamic range as well as high detection accuracy, and may be produced having a reduced size.
118 Citations
14 Claims
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1. An acceleration sensor comprising:
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a substrate; a vibrator connected to said substrate and having three-dimensional freedom; a magnetic body mounted on said vibrator; and at least four detector elements for detecting a variation of a magnetic field caused by a displacement of said magnetic body, wherein said acceleration sensor detects each of; acceleration in a direction of an X axis in the orthogonal spatial coordinate axes of X, Y and Z based on output signals of at least two of said detector elements due to variation of the magnetic field; acceleration in a direction of the Y-axis based on output signals of at least two other of said detector elements due to variation of the magnetic field; and acceleration in a direction of the Z-axis based on output signals of said at least four detector elements. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification