Measuring and testing – Speed – velocity – or acceleration – Angular rate using gyroscopic or coriolis effect
Patent
1994-05-06
1996-02-13
Williams, Hezron E.
Measuring and testing
Speed, velocity, or acceleration
Angular rate using gyroscopic or coriolis effect
G01P 904
Patent
active
054904200
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This application claims the benefit of international application PCT/GB92/00930 filed May 22, 1992, which designated the United States.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This inventions relates to gyroscopic devices, capable of providing a measure of a rate of turn about one and possibly further axes. It relates in particular to solid-state devices of simple construction, containing no gimballed or otherwise rotating parts, in which the primary motion of a mass relative to a supporting structure is one of vibration, and in which the relative motions between the different parts of the device, in response both to that primary motion and to all consequent motions, involve primarily the bending or flexure of suitable components.
DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART
The present invention is thus to be distinguished particularly from the type of device of which examples are described in published patent specification GB-A-2198231, in which the necessary relative movements between the mass and its supporting structure include a degree of tilting, whereby corresponding surfaces of the mass and structure, which are coplanar when the device is at rest, come to lie in intersecting planes instead. This requires the connecting filaments to be subjected to a substantial degree of twist, as well as to flexure.
Examples of devices where the movement of the connecting members between masses and supporting structures is more purely flexural in character are described, for instance, in published patent specifications U.S. Pat. No. A-4524619, U.S. Pat. No. A-4538461, and GB-A-2156523. In all of these examples, however, the forces that set the mass into its primary vibration are transmitted to it mechanically, through solid links connecting the mass to its supporting structure. The links must therefore be robust enough to transmit such forces.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention arises, in part, from appreciating that the forces can be transmitted in a manner which by-passes any such mechanical links. The invention arises also from appreciating that the simplicity of the construction of the Kind of solid-state devices referred to in the previous paragraph particularly lends itself to the use of miniature monolithic planar silicon components. The basic structure of each gyroscope may be made out of many materials including glass and plastics, but typically It will be produced from silicon, and the detect,on and drive functions will be added by using techniques such as photolithography, chemical etching, ion beam machining and thin film deposition. These techniques are already well known, and are currently available for the manufacture of miniature components from materials such as crystalline silicon and polysilicon.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention is defined by the claims, the contents of which are to be read as included within the disclosure of this specification, and embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying simplified and diagrammatic drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a plan view of part of one embodiment;
FIG. 2 is a section through that embodiment on the line II--II in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a plan view of part of a second embodiment;
FIG. 4 is a section through that embodiment on the line IV--IV in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a plan view of part of a third embodiment including two seismic masses;
FIG. 6 is a section through that embodiment on the line VI--VI in FIG. 5;
FIG. 7 is a plan view of part of a fourth embodiment, capable of responding to rotation about two axes;
FIG. 8 is a section through that embodiment on the line VIII--VIII in FIG. 7;
FIG. 9 is a simplified plan view of part of an alternative to the arrangements of supporting beams shown in FIG. 7; and
FIG. 10 is a plan view of part of a fifth embodiment, capable of sensing rotation about three axes.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In FIG. 1 a seismic mass, by which we mean a generally flat mass that responds to vibration and can be used to detect it, is denoted by reference 1 and lies, when
REFERENCES:
patent: 4524619 (1985-06-01), Staudte
patent: 4538461 (1985-09-01), Juptner et al.
patent: 4654663 (1987-03-01), Alsenz et al.
patent: 4699006 (1987-10-01), Boxenhorn
patent: 4967605 (1990-11-01), Okada
patent: 5060039 (1991-10-01), Weinberg
patent: 5121180 (1992-06-01), Beringhause et al.
patent: 5203208 (1993-04-01), Bernstein
patent: 5275047 (1994-01-01), Zabler et al.
Patent Abstracts of Japan, vol. 8, No. 163 (P-290) [1600], 27 Jul. 1984 & JP, A, 59060210 (Nihon Koukuu Denshi Kogyo K.K.) 6 Apr. 1984, see the whole document.
British Technology Group Ltd.
Kwok Helen C.
Williams Hezron E.
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