Hybrid wafer gyroscope

US6615681B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Lyle J. Jenkins · Scituate, US
• Ralph Hopkins · Brookline, US
• Kaplesh Kumar · Wellesley, US
• Paul Greiff · Wayland, US
• Edmund R. Foster · Mashpee, US
• Richard M. Walker · Bloomfield, US
• Richard H. Coco · Reading, US
• Anthony M. Moscaritolo · Saugus, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 26, 2001
• Grant date: Sep 9, 2003
• Expiry date: Jul 26, 2021

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10T74/1293
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A hybrid wafer gyroscope includes a combination of micro-machined components and traditional electromechanical components to form a miniature gyroscope having a high degree of stability. The gyroscope includes a rotor, gimbal, flexures, and stop cutouts micro-machined out of one or more layers of silicon, forming a unitary, planar, and disk-shaped rotor subassembly, which spins about a drive shaft.