Method of producing an inertial sensor
AssigneesThe Boeing Company, California Institute of Technology
InventorsKirill V. Shcheglov, A. Dorian Challoner
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Abstract
The present invention discloses an inertial sensor comprising a planar mechanical resonator with embedded sensing and actuation for substantially in-plane vibration and having a central rigid support for the resonator. At least one excitation or torquer electrode is disposed within an interior of the resonator to excite in-plane vibration of the resonator and at least one sensing or pickoff electrode is disposed within the interior of the resonator for sensing the motion of the excited resonator. In one embodiment, the planar resonator includes a plurality of slots in an annular pattern; in another embodiment, the planar mechanical resonator comprises four masses; each embodiment having a simple degenerate pair of in-plane vibration modes.
Claims20
A method producing an inertial sensor, comprising the steps of:
- providing a planar mechanical resonator for substantially in-plane solid disc vibration with two isolated and degenerate resonator modes for Coriolis sensing having a central mounting point;
- supporting the planar mechanical resonator at the central mounting point;
- providing at least one excitation electrode within an interior of the resonator to excite vibration of the isolated and degenerate resonator modes;
- and
- providing at least one sensing electrode within the interior of the planar mechanical resonator for sensing the vibration of the isolated and degenerate resonator modes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.