Gyroscopes
US4489609A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 7, 1982 |
| Grant date | Dec 25, 1984 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 7, 2002 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01C19/5642
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A gyroscopic device comprising a beam, column or other continuous unitary structure of consistent vibratory characteristics along its full length and including piezoelectric material. The piezoelectric effect is used both excite the structure into resonant vibrations along a first axis and then, when a rate of turn is applied along a second axis at right angles to the first, to detect that rate of turn by sensing vibrations set up in the beam in a direction parallel to a third, orthogonal axis due to Coriolis forces resulting from the applied rate of turn. The beam may be held at both ends, or may be supported at one end only with the other end free. The vibrations applied to and sensed within the beam by means of the piezoelectric effect may be parallel, transverse and radial relative to the beam axis, or may be in a rotary sense around that axis. A mode of vibration in which opposite faces of the beam oscillate in parallel directions but out-of-phase is also disclosed.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.