Method and device for measuring the characteristics of an oscillating system
US5837885A · kind A · utility
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 29, 1996 |
| Grant date | Nov 17, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 29, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S73/01
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A resonator (1) is vibrating close to its resonance frequency. The vibration is excited by one or a first transducer (2) connected to an oscillator (11). The vibration is measured by the transducer (2) or a second transducer (3) and stabilized by a phase-locked feedback loop comprising a phase sensitive detector (33), a feedback controller (36), a phase shifter (17) and means (15) to evaluate the measured frequencies. In order to measure the damping of the resonator (1), the phase in the phase shifter (17) is alternately set to two different values. The difference between the frequencies corresponding to these two phase values is a measure for the damping of the system. One or more switches (19, 28, 27) and a gate generator (16) make sure that excitation and measurement do not occur at the same time. Thereby, any cross-talk between driving and sensing transducers is completely eliminated. Also, a single transducer can be used to both excite and measure the vibration. Thereby, a very compact transducer set-up can be implemented and the precision and range of the measurement is improved.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.