Back to results
US 7,000,472 B2Granted
Supporting mechanism for a vibrator and a vibrator unit including a supporting mechanism
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorYusuke Kinoshita
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorYusuke Kinoshita
Estimating the term…
A gyro-vibrator supporting mechanism for supporting a gyro-vibrator via a support section upon a substrate in a vibration unit in which a vibrator is installed, the gyro-vibrator having a drive section to which a Coriolis force is applied upon an angular rotation of the gyro-vibrator with the drive section vibrating in a first direction, the detection section vibrating in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction in response to said Coriolis force and in accordance with the magnitude of said Coriolis force for detecting the strength of the Coriolis force and said gyro-vibrator rotating about an axis in a third direction perpendicular to said first and second directions and including a support section for supporting said drive section and said detection section relative to the substrate, and wherein the supporting mechanism comprises a characteristic resonance frequency of vibration along at least one of the first and the second directions that is lower than a characteristic resonance frequency of vibration along a direction other than the at least one of the first and the second directions.
A vibrator supporting mechanism for supporting a gyro-vibrator spatially apart from a substrate along a first and/or second direction with the gyro-vibrator comprising a drive section to which a Coriolis force is applied upon an angular rotation of the gyro-vibrator with the drive section vibrating in a first direction, a detection section vibrating in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction in response to said Coriolis force and said gyro-vibrator rotating about an axis in a third direction perpendicular to said first and second directions and a support section for supporting said drive section and said detection section relative to the substrate, wherein:
A vibrator unit including a supporting mechanism for supporting a gyro-vibrator upon a substrate in said vibrating unit with said gyro-vibrator comprising a drive section to which a Coriolis force is applied upon an angular rotation of the gyro-vibrator with the drive section vibrating in a first direction, a detection section vibrating in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction in response to said Coriolis force and in accordance with the magnitude of said Coriolis force for detecting the strength of the Coriolis force with said gyro-vibrator rotating about an axis in a third direction perpendicular to said first and second directions and including a support section for supporting said drive section and said detection section relative to the substrate, wherein said supporting mechanism supports the gyro-vibrator via the support section and comprises a characteristic resonance frequency of vibration along the first direction that is lower than a characteristic resonance frequency of vibration along the third direction.
A vibrator unit including a supporting mechanism for supporting a gyro-vibrator upon a substrate in said vibrating unit with said gyro-vibrator comprising a drive section to which a Coriolis force is applied upon an angular rotation of the gyro-vibrator with the drive section vibrating in a first direction, a detection section vibrating in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction in response to said Coriolis force and in accordance with the magnitude of said Coriolis force for detecting the strength of the Coriolis force with said gyro-vibrator rotating about an axis in a third direction perpendicular to said first and second directions and including a support section for supporting said drive section and said detection section relative to the substrate, wherein the drive section comprises first and second drive arm sections shaped like rods disposed in a direction parallel to the third direction and being parallel to each other, and a drive arm supporting section shaped like a rod having two opposite ends, with one end thereof connected to the first drive arm section, the opposite end connected to the second drive arm section, and with the drive arm supporting section being connected at an intermediate location thereof to the detection section, wherein the detection section comprises a detection arm shaped like a rod disposed between and parallel to the first and the second drive arm sections, and wherein said supporting mechanism comprises a first elastic mechanism for supporting the gyro-vibrator and for supporting the drive arm supporting section and the detection arm section at the center thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
Drawings are temporarily unavailable. Open the PDF at USPTO
From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Gyroscopes; Turn-sensitive devices using vibrating masses; Turn-sensitive devices without moving masses; Measuring angular rate using gyroscopic…:…
Measuring distances, levels or bearings
Term ended 28 May 2024 (estimated)
The present invention relates to a supporting mechanism for supporting a vibrator such as a gyro vibrator (gyroscopic piezoelectric vibrator) which is used for detecting the orientation, speed, and position of an object, and to a vibrator unit including a vibrator and a vibrator supporting mechanism.
A gyro vibrator includes a drive section, a detection section and a support section for supporting the drive and detection sections respectively. In a gyro vibrator a Coriolis force is applied to the drive section in accordance with the rotation of the gyro vibrator when the drive section is vibrating along a certain direction. The detection section vibrates in response to the Coriolis force with an amplitude corresponding to the strength of the Coriolis force. The gyro vibrator is mounted on a substrate on which a supporting mechanism is provided for supporting the supporting section.
The supporting mechanism as described above is used to rigidly support the gyro vibrator. This limits or inhibits vibration of the drive section or the detection section of the gyro vibrator. If the degree of rigidity of the supporting mechanism is lowered to ease the inhibition of vibration, a problem of reliability results and the gyro vibrator becomes susceptible to shock.
The invention is hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings of which:
FIG. 1(a) is a plan view of a vibrator unit equipped with a gyro vibrator according to a first embodiment.
FIG. 1(b) is a cross-sectional view of the vibrator unit taken along the section lines AA in FIG. 1(A).
FIGS. 1–4 are illustrative of the first embodiment of the invention.
A vibrator unit 100 is mounted on an object (not shown) such as, for example, an electronic device or a vehicle to detect the orientation, speed, and position of the object. The vibrator unit 100 comprises a gyro vibrator 10 preferably of piezoelectric quartz, a supporting substrate 17 and lead wires 15A, 15B, 16A, and 16B forming a supporting mechanism for supporting the gyro vibrator 10, on the supporting substrate 17.
The gyro vibrator 10 includes, as shown in FIG. 1(A), a drive section having a first drive arm 11A and a second drive arm 11B respectively corresponding to a first drive arm section and a second drive arm section, a detection arm 12 representing a detection section, an arm supporting section 13 representing an arm supporting section, and a supporting board 14 representing a supporting section. The gyro vibrator 10 operates in three modes conventionally known to those skilled in the art as the drive mode, detection mode, and spurious mode respectively. The drive arms 11A and 11B vibrate by piezoelectric effect caused by an electric field between electrodes associated with or on the drive arms. A Coriolis force is generated in response to the vibration of the drive arms 11A and 11B due to inertial force caused by the rotation of the Earth in accordance with an applied rotation of the gyro vibrator 10. The detection section will vibrate in a direction perpendicular to the direction of vibration of the drive section in accordance with the strength of the Coriolis force permitting detection of the strength of the Coriolis force.