CA1215245A - Angular rate sensor utilizing parallel vibrating accelerometers - Google Patents

Angular rate sensor utilizing parallel vibrating accelerometers

Info

Publication number
CA1215245A
CA1215245A CA000456452A CA456452A CA1215245A CA 1215245 A CA1215245 A CA 1215245A CA 000456452 A CA000456452 A CA 000456452A CA 456452 A CA456452 A CA 456452A CA 1215245 A CA1215245 A CA 1215245A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
shaft
axis
accelerometers
accelerometer
force sensing
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA000456452A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Rex B. Peters
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Sundstrand Data Control Inc
Original Assignee
Sundstrand Data Control Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Sundstrand Data Control Inc filed Critical Sundstrand Data Control Inc
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1215245A publication Critical patent/CA1215245A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • GPHYSICS
    • G01MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01CMEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY
    • G01C19/00Gyroscopes; Turn-sensitive devices using vibrating masses; Turn-sensitive devices without moving masses; Measuring angular rate using gyroscopic effects
    • G01C19/56Turn-sensitive devices using vibrating masses, e.g. vibratory angular rate sensors based on Coriolis forces
    • G01C19/5719Turn-sensitive devices using vibrating masses, e.g. vibratory angular rate sensors based on Coriolis forces using planar vibrating masses driven in a translation vibration along an axis
    • G01C19/5733Structural details or topology
    • G01C19/574Structural details or topology the devices having two sensing masses in anti-phase motion
    • GPHYSICS
    • G01MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01CMEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY
    • G01C19/00Gyroscopes; Turn-sensitive devices using vibrating masses; Turn-sensitive devices without moving masses; Measuring angular rate using gyroscopic effects
    • G01C19/56Turn-sensitive devices using vibrating masses, e.g. vibratory angular rate sensors based on Coriolis forces

Abstract

ANGULAR RATE SENSOR UTILIZING PARALLEL VIBRATING ACCELEROMETERS Inertial measurement of the angular rotation and translational motion of a structure can be provided by a pair of vibrating accelerometers aligned in a side-by-side arrangement with their force sensing axes in the same direction and vibrated to and away from each other along an axis normal to their force sensing axes.

Description

1 Related Patent Applications This application relates to U.S~ patent No. 4,~45,376 to Merhav which issued May 1, 1984 and Canadian patent application Serial No. 462,247, filed August 31, 1984 which are directed to apparatus utilizing moving accelerometers to measure the specific force and angular rate of a moving body.

Technical Field The invention relates to the field of angular rate determination utilizing movlng accelerometers and more particularly to angular rate detectors using paired accelerometers t Background of the Invention In the above cited U.S. patent No. 4,445,376 as well as the article by Shmuel J. Merhav entitled "A Nongyroscopic Inertial Measurement Unit" published May 1981 by Technion Israel Institute of Technology, a method and apparatus for measuring the specific force v~ctor and angular rate vector of a moving body by means of a plurality of cyclically driven accelerometers is disclosed. The Canadian patent application Serial No.462,247 cited above discloses similar techniques for measuring the 1~' ~................................................... . .

~ ~3 specific force vector and angular rate vector of a moving body utilizing either a single or a pair of accelerometers vibrating at a constant frequency. In the embodiments of the paired accelerometer rate and force sensors disclosed 05 in the above patent application, the masses of the accelerometers are balanced with respect to rectolinear translation. This means that the pairs of accelerometers can be attached to a mountins frame work without causing any vibrational translation of the center of mass.
~owever, the accelerometer configurations disclosed in the above patent application will produce angular vibration of any mass to which they are attached abou~ the center of that mass.

As might be expected, it is important in many systems such as in inertial navigation systems to reduce to a minimum any vi~ration, be it linear or angular, that could affect the system. For example, in inertial navigation systems it is important to minimize the effects of one sensor on the performance of other sensors in the navigation system.

Summary of the Invention It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a force and angular rate sensing apparatus utilizing a pair of vibrating accelerometers configured in such a manner that torques resulting from the vibration of the accelerometers are substantially eliminated.

It is an additional object of the invention to provide an apparatus for generating a signal representing the an~ular rate motion of a structure that includes:
first and second accelerometers; a structure for aligning the accelerometers in a side by side relationship with the force sensing axis of one accelerometer parallel to the other; a vibrating mechanism for vibrating the accelerometers individually in a substantially linear 05 direction along a vibration axis normal to the accelerometers force sensing axis at a frequency ~, and a signal processor for generating rate signals representing the angular motion of the structure about an axis perpendicular to the plane defined by the force sensing axis and the vîbration axis.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an angular rate sensing accelerometer structure that includes a housing; a shaft mounted for rotation in the housing; a first accelerometer secured to a first support member; a first flexure for securing the first support member to the hGusing such that the first accelerometer can move in a substantially linear manner in a direction generally normal to the axis of the shaft and in a direction to and away from the shaft. The structure also includes a second support member securing a second accelerometer; a second flexure for securing the second support member to the housing such that the second accelerometer can move in a substantially linear manner in a direction generally normal to the axis of the shaft in a direction generally to and away from the shaft; a mechanism for rotationally vibrating the shaft; and a linkage arrangement connected to the shaft and the first and ~econd support members effective to vibrate the accelerometers in the directions permitted by the flexures.
2~

Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a simplified perspective dia~ram of a pair of accelerometers in a side by side arrangement with their force sensing axes aligned in the same direction;

05 Fig. 2 is a front view of a mechanism for implementing the paired accelerometer arrangement of Fig. 1~

Fig. 3 is a side view of the accelerometer arrangement of Fig. 2: and Fig. 4 is a block diagram of an analog signal separating circuit for use with a pair of accelerometers.

Detailed Description of the Invention As shown in Fig. 1, a pair of accelerometers 10 and 12 are mounted in a side by side arrangement with their force sensing axes Az and Az aligned in the same direction. In order to minimize any mass imbalances as well as torque imbalances that could be transmitted to a support structure (not shown), the accelerometers 10 and 12 are vibrated in opposite directions to and away from each other along the axes indicated by lines 14 and 16 which are normal to the sensitive axes Az and Az. As described in detail in the Merhav U.S. patent, the acceler~tion signals from the accelerometers 1~ and 12 can be used to provide signals representi~g translation of the structure containing the accelerometers 10 and 12 along the axes Al and A2 along with signalo representing angular rotation of the structure.

The preferred embodiment o:E an apparatus for mechanizing the paired accelerometer structure of Figu 1 is illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. In this apparatus, substantially linear translation of the accelerometers 10 05 and 12 along the axes 14 and 16 as shown in Fig. 1 is provided by a mechanism that includes a pair of support members 18 and 20 that hold the accelerometers 10 and 12 respectively~ In turn, the support members 18 and 20 are secured to a housing 22 by means of a pair of flexures 24 and ~6. A shaft 28 which is rotatably secured within the housing 22 by a pair of bearings 30 and 32, has secured to it a linkage member 34. Attached to the linkage member 34 are a pair of linkage pins 36 and 38 which are inserted into slots 40 and 42 configured into support ~embers 18 and 20.

Also attached to the shaft 28 is a rotor 44 that, when combined with a stator 46 attached to the housing 22, will cause the shaft to vibrate back and forth through a small angle at a frequency ~. As can be seen from Figs. 2 and 3, the vibration of the shaft 28 will result in the linkage pins 36 and 38 forcing the support members 18 and 20 and hence the accelerometers 10 and 12 to move in a direction perpendicular to the shaft and to and away from each other. Since the accelerometers 10 and 12 will only move a very mall distance, their direction of travel will be substantially linear with respect to the axis of the shaft 28. Signals representing the rotational motion of the shaft 2B of accelerometers 10 and 12 can be obtained by means of the capacitor pick-off arrangement shown at 48. The angular capacitive detector 48 provides a means for angular motion feedback to be used in maintaining ~he driven motion of the shaft 28 constant over time.

A signal processor for separatin~ the force signals F from the angular rate signals n and the output signals of accelerometers 10 and 12 is provided in Fig. 4. A
control pulse generator 50 generates signals on a line 52 05 as a function of the frequency ~ that will cause a drive signal generatGr 54 to vi~rate the accelerometers 10 and 12 at frequency ~ as previously desribed. The output signals of the accelerometers 10 and 12 az and az are transmitted over lines 56 and 58 to a preseparation processor 60. The preseparation processor 60 shown in Fig. 4 is appropriate for a paired accelerom~ter mechanization of the type shown in ~ig. 1 where the force sensing axes Az and Az are aligned in the same direction. The accelerometer output signals at lines 56 and 58 are summed in a summing junction 62 and differenced in a summing junction 64. A pair of scaling amplifiers 66 and 68 recieve the summed and differenced signals from summing junctions 62 and 64 respectively over lines 70 and 72.

The principle force separation is the same as the one disclosed in the previously cit~d patent application Serial No. 462,247 wherein the combined signal from amplifier 66 is provided over a line 74 to a force channel 76. The force channel 76 includes an integrating circuit and a sample and hold circuit with signals from the control pulse generator 50 being applied over lines 78 and 80 to the integrating and sample and hold circuits. The combined acceleration signals on lines 74 are integrated ovér the time period T of the frequency ~ to provide a force ~ignal Fz on line 82 that represents the change in velocity along the axis Z of the structure or housing 22 holding the accelerometers 10 and 12.

~J , .

~,~r ~

Similarly, an angular rate channel processor 84 rec~ives the differenced signals over line 86 and multiplies them by the zero mean periodic function sgnc~t. As with the force channel, the resulting signal 05 is integrated over a time period T through a sample and hold circuit to an output line 88. The signal Qi representing angular rate information is transmitted through a low pass filter 90 and output on a line 92.

In the above manner signals from the accelerometer arrangement illustrated in Figs. 1-3 may be processed to produce force signals and angular rate signals.

Claims (7)

I CLAIM:
1. An apparatus for generating a signal representing the angular rate motion of a structure comprising:
a first accelerometer for generating a first output signal representing acceleration along a first force sensing axis;
a second accelerometer for generating a second output signal representing acceleration along a second force sensing axis;
alignment means for aligning said first and second accelerometers in a side by side relationship with said first sensing axis parallel to said second force sensing axis;
vibration means operatively connected to the structure and said alignment means for vibrating said first and said second accelerometers in opposite directions along a vibration axis normal to said force sensing axis at a frequency .omega.; and signal processing means responsive to said first and second output signals for generating a rate signal representing the angular rate motion of the structure about an axis perpendicular to the plane defined by said force sensing axis and said vibration axis.
2. The apparatus of Claim 1 wherein said first and said second force sensing axes are aligned in the opposite direction.
3. The apparatus of Claim 1 wherein said first and said second force sensing axes are aligned in the same direction.
4. An angular rate sensing accelerometer structure comprising.
a housing;
a shaft rotatably mounted in said housing;
a first support member;
a first accelerometer secured to said first support member;
a first flexure means for securing said first support member to said housing such that said first accelerometer can move in a substantially linear manner in a direction generally normal to the axis of said shaft and in a direction to and away from said shaft;
a second support member;
a second accelerometer secured to said second support member;
a second flexure means for securing said second support member to said housing such that said second accelerometer can move in a substantially linear manner in a direction generally normal to the axis of said shaft and in a direction to and away from said shaft;
vibrating means for rotationally vibrating said shaft; and linkage means connected to said shaft and first and second support members for vibrating said first and second accelerometers in the direction of movement permitted by said first and second flexure means.
5. The structure of Claim 4 wherein the force sensing axes of said first and said second accelerometers are aligned in the same direction.
6. The structure of Claim 4 wherein said vibrating means includes an electric motor having a rotor secured to said shaft and a stator secured to said housing.
7. The structure of Claim 4 wherein said linkage means includes first and second linkage members secured to said shaft and disposed to said first and second support members respectively.
CA000456452A 1983-09-02 1984-06-13 Angular rate sensor utilizing parallel vibrating accelerometers Expired CA1215245A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US52877383A 1983-09-02 1983-09-02
US528,773 1983-09-02

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1215245A true CA1215245A (en) 1986-12-16

Family

ID=24107133

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA000456452A Expired CA1215245A (en) 1983-09-02 1984-06-13 Angular rate sensor utilizing parallel vibrating accelerometers

Country Status (15)

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JP (1) JPS6066110A (en)
AU (1) AU554302B2 (en)
BE (1) BE900483A (en)
CA (1) CA1215245A (en)
CH (1) CH661358A5 (en)
DE (1) DE3431615A1 (en)
FR (1) FR2557978B1 (en)
GB (1) GB2145824B (en)
HK (1) HK20387A (en)
IL (1) IL72542A (en)
IT (1) IT8448741A0 (en)
NL (1) NL8402552A (en)
NO (1) NO843472L (en)
SE (1) SE8404319L (en)
ZA (1) ZA846116B (en)

Families Citing this family (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CA1217648A (en) * 1984-01-23 1987-02-10 Robert E. Stewart Single axis multisensor
JPS63186122A (en) * 1987-01-28 1988-08-01 Power Reactor & Nuclear Fuel Dev Corp Abnormality diagnosing system for structure
DE3843143A1 (en) * 1988-12-22 1990-06-28 Bosch Gmbh Robert SENSOR FOR DETERMINING THE ANGLE SPEED
DE3921560A1 (en) * 1989-06-30 1991-01-10 Deutsche Forsch Luft Raumfahrt METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DETERMINING ACCELERATIONS WITH HIGH PRECISION
US5331853A (en) * 1991-02-08 1994-07-26 Alliedsignal Inc. Micromachined rate and acceleration sensor
CA2121380A1 (en) * 1993-04-22 1994-10-23 Ross D. Olney Rotation sensor using linear accelerometers

Family Cites Families (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3744322A (en) * 1970-12-07 1973-07-10 Space Res Corp Angular velocity sensors
US4445376A (en) * 1982-03-12 1984-05-01 Technion Research And Development Foundation Ltd. Apparatus and method for measuring specific force and angular rate
JPS59151015A (en) * 1983-02-18 1984-08-29 Tokyo Keiki Co Ltd Gyro device

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
CH661358A5 (en) 1987-07-15
GB2145824A (en) 1985-04-03
GB8422024D0 (en) 1984-10-03
AU554302B2 (en) 1986-08-14
FR2557978B1 (en) 1991-02-08
AU2896484A (en) 1984-09-06
NO843472L (en) 1985-03-04
HK20387A (en) 1987-03-13
IT8448741A0 (en) 1984-08-20
JPS6066110A (en) 1985-04-16
DE3431615A1 (en) 1985-03-21
SE8404319D0 (en) 1984-08-30
NL8402552A (en) 1985-04-01
ZA846116B (en) 1985-03-27
SE8404319L (en) 1985-03-03
FR2557978A1 (en) 1985-07-12
IL72542A (en) 1989-03-31
BE900483A (en) 1984-12-17
GB2145824B (en) 1986-07-30
IL72542A0 (en) 1984-11-30

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