The MicroGyro® utilizes a unique double-ended tuning fork, micromachined of pure piezoelectric quartz, as its sensor. One end (with the “drive tines”) vibrates, acting as a Coriolis sensor; the other end (the “pickup tines”) are used to detect rotation and create the signal for the unit’s output.
An oscillator induces the drive tines to vibrate at a precise amplitude, moving toward, and then away, from each other at a very high frequency. Once this occurs, the entire drive fork becomes sensitive to any rotation around its tines-axis. That’s because when the drive tines move in and out from the central axis, they act like a skater’s arms during a spin: moving them inward increases the speed of rotation, while moving them outward decreases the speed. Thus, when the rapidly-vibrating tines are rotated, the Coriolis Force (which exists between a moving object and a rotating frame of reference) creates torque in a sine wave, which induces the tines in the pickup fork to move up and down, or perpendicular to the axis of rotation.
The now-moving pickup tines generate a minute electrical current, enough to be detected and intensified by the MicroGyro’s pickup amplifier. The resulting amplified sine-wave current is converted into a DC signal which is proportional to the rate of angular change of the entire unit, thanks to a synchronous switch, or demodulator, which is able to “read” the desired information from this input.
Thus, the DC output signal of the MicroGyro® is directly proportional to input rate. Not only that, but its polarity reverses when the rotation reverses (from, say, clockwise to counterclockwise), since the oscillating torque produced by the Coriolis Force reverses phase when the input rate reverses.
© 2008 Systron Donner Automotive |
Site Map |
Press Materials