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US 5,341,681 AGranted
Stepped gravity gradiometer
AssigneeUnisys Corporation
InventorsMarvin J. Molny, Melvin Feinberg
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AssigneeUnisys Corporation
InventorsMarvin J. Molny, Melvin Feinberg
Estimating the term…
A gravity gradiometer instrument alternately and sequentially rotatable in opposing angular increments provides a measure of the gravity gradient in-line and cross components without requiring real-time generation of trigonometric harmonic components, continuous demodulation to separate the component data signals, or filtering. Demodulation of the output data is accomplished by simple summing of the data from successive angular positions of radially opposing accelerometers. Precise control of the rotational speed is not required. Further, the accelerometer complement is minimal and because the direction of rotation is periodically reversed, a twist capsule is used rather than slip rings, thereby avoiding the noise and maintenance problems associated therewith.
An improved gradiometer for measuring gravity gradient components, of the type including a housing defining a chamber, a cage contained within the chamber and coupled to the housing such as to be rotatable relative to the housing about an axis of rotation, gradient sensor means disposed within the cage and having a sensing axis aligned in a plane orthogonal to the axis of rotation of the cage and responsive to gravitational accelerations parallel to the sensing axis, and further including electrical output means coupled to the gradient sensor means for providing an output signal corresponding to relative gravitational accelerations sensed by said gradient sensor means and indicative of at least one gravity gradient component, wherein the improvement comprises:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.