MICROFABRICATED TUNING FORK GYROSCOPE AND ASSOCIATED THREE-AXIS INERTIAL MEASUREMENT SYSTEM TO SENSE OUT-OF-PLANE ROTATION

摘要

A micromechanical tuning fork gyroscope comprises an input axis (38) which isout-of-plane of the structure, parallelcapacitor strips (42, 43) beneath a pair of apertured, planar proof masses(10) suspended from a substrate (22) by a support structure(16), wherein the proof masses are set in opposed vibrational motion by anelectrostatic comb drive (12, 14), whereby in response toan input angular rate, the proof masses (10) translate with respect to thestriped capacitors (42, 43), thereby varying the capacitancebetween the strips and the proof masses as a function of the input rate.