Vibrating-mass gyroscope systems and method
First Claim
1. A vibrating-mass gyroscope system comprising:
- a sensor system comprising a substantially planar vibrating-mass comprising a first surface, a second surface opposite the first surface, and a plurality of electrodes that extend longitudinally in a periodic pattern across at least one of the first and second surfaces, the plurality of electrodes comprising an array of drive electrodes, an array of sense electrodes, and an array of quadrature electrodes arranged at a 45°
angle with respect to each of the sets of drive and sense electrodes, the array of drive electrodes, the array of sense electrodes, and the array of quadrature electrodes being capacitively coupled to a substantially matching array of drive electrodes, a substantially matching array of sense electrodes, and a substantially matching array of quadrature electrodes, respectively, associated with a housing and which are separated from and facing the respective at least one of the first and second surfaces, the substantially matching array of quadrature electrodes being arranged at a 45°
angle with respect to each of the substantially matching sets of drive and sense electrodes; and
a gyroscope controller configured to generate a drive signal that is provided to one of the array of drive electrodes and the substantially matching array of drive electrodes to provide for an in-plane periodic oscillatory motion of the substantially planar vibrating-mass, and to generate a force-rebalance signal that is provided to one of the array of sense electrodes and the substantially matching array of sense electrodes to calculate a rotation of the vibrating-mass gyroscope system about an input axis.
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Accused Products
Abstract
One embodiment of the invention includes a vibrating-mass gyroscope system. A sensor system includes a substantially planar vibrating-mass including opposite first and second surfaces and electrodes that extend longitudinally in a periodic pattern across the first and/or second surfaces. The electrodes include sets of drive and sense electrodes that are capacitively coupled to respective matching sets of drive and sense electrodes associated with a housing and which are separated from and facing the respective first and second surfaces. A gyroscope controller generates a drive signal provided to one of the array of drive electrodes and the substantially matching array of drive electrodes to provide for in-plane periodic oscillatory motion of the vibrating-mass, and generates a force-rebalance signal that is provided to one of the array of sense electrodes and the substantially matching array of sense electrodes to calculate rotation of the vibrating-mass gyroscope system about an input axis.
18 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A vibrating-mass gyroscope system comprising:
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a sensor system comprising a substantially planar vibrating-mass comprising a first surface, a second surface opposite the first surface, and a plurality of electrodes that extend longitudinally in a periodic pattern across at least one of the first and second surfaces, the plurality of electrodes comprising an array of drive electrodes, an array of sense electrodes, and an array of quadrature electrodes arranged at a 45°
angle with respect to each of the sets of drive and sense electrodes, the array of drive electrodes, the array of sense electrodes, and the array of quadrature electrodes being capacitively coupled to a substantially matching array of drive electrodes, a substantially matching array of sense electrodes, and a substantially matching array of quadrature electrodes, respectively, associated with a housing and which are separated from and facing the respective at least one of the first and second surfaces, the substantially matching array of quadrature electrodes being arranged at a 45°
angle with respect to each of the substantially matching sets of drive and sense electrodes; anda gyroscope controller configured to generate a drive signal that is provided to one of the array of drive electrodes and the substantially matching array of drive electrodes to provide for an in-plane periodic oscillatory motion of the substantially planar vibrating-mass, and to generate a force-rebalance signal that is provided to one of the array of sense electrodes and the substantially matching array of sense electrodes to calculate a rotation of the vibrating-mass gyroscope system about an input axis. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for calculating rotation about an input axis in a vibrating-mass gyroscope system, the method comprising:
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monitoring a drive pickoff signal associated with one of an array of drive electrodes that extend longitudinally in a periodic pattern across at least one of a first surface and a second surface of a substantially planar vibrating-mass and a substantially matching array of drive electrodes that extend longitudinally in a periodic pattern across at least one of a first surface and a second surface of a housing, wherein the first surface of the substantially planar vibrating-mass faces the first surface of the housing and the second surface of the substantially planar vibrating-mass faces the second surface of the housing; providing a drive signal to the one of the array of drive electrodes of the substantially planar vibrating-mass and the substantially matching array of drive electrodes of the housing based on the drive pickoff signal to provide an in-plane periodic oscillatory motion of the substantially planar vibrating-mass; monitoring a force-rebalance pickoff signal associated with one of an array of sense electrodes that extend longitudinally in a periodic pattern across at least one of the first and second surfaces of the substantially planar vibrating-mass and a substantially matching array of sense electrodes that extend longitudinally in a periodic pattern across at least one of the first and second surfaces of the housing; providing a force-rebalance signal to the one of the array of sense electrodes of the substantially planar vibrating-mass and the substantially matching array of sense electrodes of the housing based on the force-rebalance pickoff signal to calculate a rotation of the vibrating-mass gyroscope system about an input axis; generating a DC quadrature signal; and providing the DC quadrature signal to one of an array of quadrature electrodes that extend in a periodic pattern across at least one of the first and second surfaces of the substantially planar vibrating-mass and a substantially matching array of sense electrodes that extend in a periodic pattern across at least one of the first and second surfaces of the housing to substantially mitigate quadrature coupling into the force-rebalance signal, the array of quadrature electrodes being arranged at a 45°
angle with respect to at least one of the sets of drive and sense electrodes. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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14. A vibrating-mass gyroscope system comprising:
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a sensor system comprising a plurality of substantially planar vibrating-masses that each comprise a first surface, a second surface opposite the first surface, and a plurality of electrodes that extend longitudinally in a periodic pattern across each of the first and second surfaces, the plurality of electrodes comprising an array of drive electrodes, an array of sense electrodes, and an array of quadrature electrodes arranged at a 45°
angle with respect to each of the sets of drive and sense electrodes, the array of drive electrodes, the array of sense electrodes, and the array of quadrature electrodes being capacitively coupled to a substantially matching array of drive electrodes, a substantially matching array of sense electrodes, and a substantially matching array of quadrature electrodes, respectively, associated with a housing and which are separated from and facing the respective at least one of the first and second surfaces of each of the plurality of vibrating-masses, the substantially matching array of quadrature electrodes being arranged at a 45°
angle with respect to each of the substantially matching sets of drive and sense electrodes; anda gyroscope controller configured to generate a drive signal that is provided to one of the array of drive electrodes and the substantially matching array of drive electrodes associated with each of the plurality of vibrating-masses to provide for an in-plane periodic oscillatory motion of each of the plurality of substantially planar vibrating-masses, and to generate a force-rebalance signal that is provided to one of the array of sense electrodes and the substantially matching array of sense electrodes associated with each of the plurality of vibrating-masses to calculate a rotation of the vibrating-mass gyroscope system about an input axis, and to generate a quadrature signal that is provided to one of the array of quadrature electrodes and the substantially matching array of quadrature electrodes associated with each of the plurality of substantially planar vibrating-masses to substantially mitigate quadrature coupling into the force-rebalance signal. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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Specification