A THREE-COMPONENT ANGULAR RATE SENSOR BASED ON A SPHERICAL GYROSCOPE WITH ELECTROSTATIC SUSPENSION

摘要

A free single-rotor spherical gyroscope on electrostatic suspension is taken as a basis for a three-component angular rate sensor. In this study, said gyroscope was equipped by two electric compensating feedbacks that made it a strapdown rate gyroscope capable of determining two components of angular rate of a vehicle about the equatorial axes. In order to measure angular rate of a vehicle about the third axis - the axis of its own rotor rotation, two systems were introduced: a system comprising a pair of power electrodes to induce translational vibrations along one of the equatorial axes of the rotor and a system comprising a pair of measuring electrodes along the other axis to register information pertaining to the third component of angular rate of a vehicle . It is shown theoretically that the described method of measuring of the three components of angular rate on the basis of a single-rotor gyroscope is being realized and can be implemented in practice.