US5131273A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Angular velocity sensor and a sensor apparatus incorporating the same
Assignee: Panasonic Holdings Corp
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Filing: 1990-07-06
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Granted: 1992-07-21
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Expires: 2010-07-06
Abstract
Abstract An angular velocity sensor includes a pair of vibratory piezoelectric detecting elements defining detecting planes which are disposed in symmetry about a plane containing the sense axis and out of right-angled orientation with respect to this plane. The detecting elements thus arranged assume a widely spread or flattened V-shaped configuration as viewed from above. Output signals of opposite polarities received from the respective detecting elements are weighted respectively and added together so as to cancel out unwanted leak component signals. Thus, leak component signals resulting from assembling tolerances can be canceled. In this instance, if the characteristics of two sensor elements each including one of the detecting elements are fully equivalent, a leak component signal dependent on a disturbing inertial force can simultaneously be canceled out. With this construction, the variation of the offset voltage can be reduced even when the sensor is subjected to a great change in environmental conditions including temperature.
Inventors
- 👤 Munehiro Tabata
- 👤 Suzushi Kimura
- 👤 Tadashi Kawamata
- 👤 Tsunenori Yoshida
- 👤 Tomio Yoshida
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-03 23:40
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01C; G01C19/00; G01C19/56; G01C19/5607; G01P; G01P1/00; G01P1/006
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 20
Claim 1
Independent Claim
111 words
An angular velocity sensor comprising: a pair of sensor elements each including a vibratory piezoelectric detecting element and a vibratory piezoelectric drive element joined together in longitudinal alignment and oriented at an angle of 90 degrees relative to each other; a joining member joining respective free ends of said drive elements so as to form, jointly with said sensor elements, a tuning-fork structure, said tuning-fork structure having a sense axis; and said detecting elements having planar shapes defining respective detecting planes which are symmetric about a first plane containing said sense axis of said tuning-fork structure and disposed out of alignment with a second plane extending perpendicular to said first plane.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
111 words
An angular velocity sensor comprising: a pair of sensor elements each including a vibratory piezoelectric detecting element and a vibratory piezoelectric drive element joined together in longitudinal alignment and oriented at an angle of 90 degrees relative to each other; a joining member joining respective free ends of said drive elements so as to form, jointly with said sensor elements, a tuning-fork structure, said tuning-fork structure having a sense axis; and said detecting elements having planar shapes defining respective detecting planes which are symmetric about a first plane containing said sense axis of said tuning-fork structure and disposed out of alignment with a second plane extending perpendicular to said first plane.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
91 words
An angular velocity sensor comprising: a pair of sensor elements each including a vibratory piezoelectric detecting element add a vibratory piezoelectric drive element joined together in longitudinal alignment and disposed out of right-angled orientation with each other: a joining member joining respective free ends of said drive elements so as to form, jointly with said sensor element, a tuning-fork structure, said tuning-fork structure having a sense axis; and said drive elements having planar shapes defining respective vibrating-element planes extending parallel to a plane containing said sense axis of said tuning-fork structure.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
91 words
An angular velocity sensor comprising: a pair of sensor elements each including a vibratory piezoelectric detecting element add a vibratory piezoelectric drive element joined together in longitudinal alignment and disposed out of right-angled orientation with each other: a joining member joining respective free ends of said drive elements so as to form, jointly with said sensor element, a tuning-fork structure, said tuning-fork structure having a sense axis; and said drive elements having planar shapes defining respective vibrating-element planes extending parallel to a plane containing said sense axis of said tuning-fork structure.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
165 words
An angular velocity sensor apparatus comprises: an angular velocity sensor including a pair of sensor elements each composed of a vibratory piezoelectric detecting element and a vibratory piezoelectric drive element joined together in longitudinal alignment and oriented at an angle of 90 degrees relative to each other, a joining member joining respective free ends of said drive elements so as to form, jointly with said sensor elements, a tuning-fork structure, said tuning-fork structure having a sense axis, and said detecting elements having planar shapes defining respective detecting planes which are symmetric about a first plane containing said sense axis of said tuning-fork structure and disposed out of alignment with a second plane extending perpendicular to said first plane; and means for detecting output signals from said detecting elements and processing the detected output signals to produce an output signal which is adjusted to be zero when an angular velocity component of the detected output signals is zero, thereby adjusting leak component signals representing drift components.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
165 words
An angular velocity sensor apparatus comprises: an angular velocity sensor including a pair of sensor elements each composed of a vibratory piezoelectric detecting element and a vibratory piezoelectric drive element joined together in longitudinal alignment and oriented at an angle of 90 degrees relative to each other, a joining member joining respective free ends of said drive elements so as to form, jointly with said sensor elements, a tuning-fork structure, said tuning-fork structure having a sense axis, and said detecting elements having planar shapes defining respective detecting planes which are symmetric about a first plane containing said sense axis of said tuning-fork structure and disposed out of alignment with a second plane extending perpendicular to said first plane; and means for detecting output signals from said detecting elements and processing the detected output signals to produce an output signal which is adjusted to be zero when an angular velocity component of the detected output signals is zero, thereby adjusting leak component signals representing drift components.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
145 words
An angular velocity sensor apparatus comprising: an angular velocity sensor including a pair of sensor elements each composed of a vibratory piezoelectric detecting element and a vibratory piezoelectric drive element joined together in longitudinal alignment and disposed out of right-angled orientation with each other, a joining member joining respective free ends of said drive elements so as to form, jointly with said sensor elements, a tuning-fork structure, said tuning-fork structure having a sense axis, and said drive elements having planar shapes defining respective vibrating-element planes extending parallel to a plane containing said sense axis of said tuning-fork structure; and means for detecting output signals from said detecting elements and processing the detected output signals to produce an output signal which is adjusted to be zero when an angular velocity component of the detected output signals is zero, thereby adjusting leak component signals representing drift components.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
145 words
An angular velocity sensor apparatus comprising: an angular velocity sensor including a pair of sensor elements each composed of a vibratory piezoelectric detecting element and a vibratory piezoelectric drive element joined together in longitudinal alignment and disposed out of right-angled orientation with each other, a joining member joining respective free ends of said drive elements so as to form, jointly with said sensor elements, a tuning-fork structure, said tuning-fork structure having a sense axis, and said drive elements having planar shapes defining respective vibrating-element planes extending parallel to a plane containing said sense axis of said tuning-fork structure; and means for detecting output signals from said detecting elements and processing the detected output signals to produce an output signal which is adjusted to be zero when an angular velocity component of the detected output signals is zero, thereby adjusting leak component signals representing drift components.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
148 words
An angular velocity sensor apparatus comprises: an angular velocity sensor including a pair of sensor elements each composed of a vibratory piezoelectric detecting element and a vibratory piezoelectric drive element joined together in longitudinal alignment and oriented at an angle of 90 degrees relative to each other, a joining member joining respective free ends of said drive elements so as to form, jointly with said sensor elements, a tuning-fork structure, said tuning-fork structure having a sense axis, and said detecting elements having planar shapes defining respective detecting planes which are symmetric about a first plane containing said sense axis of said tuning-fork structure and disposed out of alignment with a second plane extending perpendicular to said first plane; a pair of preamplifiers for converting output signals from said respective detecting elements into low impedance signals; and means for weighting the respective low impedance signals and adding them together.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
148 words
An angular velocity sensor apparatus comprises: an angular velocity sensor including a pair of sensor elements each composed of a vibratory piezoelectric detecting element and a vibratory piezoelectric drive element joined together in longitudinal alignment and oriented at an angle of 90 degrees relative to each other, a joining member joining respective free ends of said drive elements so as to form, jointly with said sensor elements, a tuning-fork structure, said tuning-fork structure having a sense axis, and said detecting elements having planar shapes defining respective detecting planes which are symmetric about a first plane containing said sense axis of said tuning-fork structure and disposed out of alignment with a second plane extending perpendicular to said first plane; a pair of preamplifiers for converting output signals from said respective detecting elements into low impedance signals; and means for weighting the respective low impedance signals and adding them together.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
128 words
An angular velocity sensor apparatus comprising: an angular velocity sensor including a pair of sensor elements each composed of a vibratory piezoelectric detecting element and a vibratory piezoelectric drive element joined together in longitudinal alignment and disposed out of right-angled orientation with each other, a joining member joining respective free ends of said drive elements so as to form, jointly with said sensor elements, a tuning-fork structure, said tuning-fork structure having a sense axis, and said drive elements having planar shapes defining respective vibrating-element planes extending parallel to a plane containing said sense axis of said tuning-fork structure; a pair of preamplifiers for converting output signals from said respective detecting elements into low impedance signals; and means for weighting the respective low impedance signals and adding them together.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
128 words
An angular velocity sensor apparatus comprising: an angular velocity sensor including a pair of sensor elements each composed of a vibratory piezoelectric detecting element and a vibratory piezoelectric drive element joined together in longitudinal alignment and disposed out of right-angled orientation with each other, a joining member joining respective free ends of said drive elements so as to form, jointly with said sensor elements, a tuning-fork structure, said tuning-fork structure having a sense axis, and said drive elements having planar shapes defining respective vibrating-element planes extending parallel to a plane containing said sense axis of said tuning-fork structure; a pair of preamplifiers for converting output signals from said respective detecting elements into low impedance signals; and means for weighting the respective low impedance signals and adding them together.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
141 words
An angular velocity sensor apparatus comprises: an angular velocity sensor including a pair of sensor elements each composed of a vibratory piezoelectric detecting element and a vibratory piezoelectric drive element joined together in longitudinal alignment and oriented at an angle of 90 degrees relative to each other, a joining member joining respective free ends of said drive elements so as to form, jointly with said sensor elements, a tuning-fork structure, said tuning-fork structure having a sense axis, and said detecting elements having planar shapes defining respective detecting planes which are symmetric about a first plane containing said sense axis of said tuning-fork structure and disposed out of alignment with a second plane extending perpendicular to said first plane: a housing for receiving therein said angular velocity sensor, and a heat insulating member disposed on said housing to fully enclose the same.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
141 words
An angular velocity sensor apparatus comprises: an angular velocity sensor including a pair of sensor elements each composed of a vibratory piezoelectric detecting element and a vibratory piezoelectric drive element joined together in longitudinal alignment and oriented at an angle of 90 degrees relative to each other, a joining member joining respective free ends of said drive elements so as to form, jointly with said sensor elements, a tuning-fork structure, said tuning-fork structure having a sense axis, and said detecting elements having planar shapes defining respective detecting planes which are symmetric about a first plane containing said sense axis of said tuning-fork structure and disposed out of alignment with a second plane extending perpendicular to said first plane: a housing for receiving therein said angular velocity sensor, and a heat insulating member disposed on said housing to fully enclose the same.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
44 words
An angular velocity sensor apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said housing has a cylindrical shape, said heat insulating member having a hole having an inside diameter slightly smaller than the outside diameter of said cylindrical housing, said housing being press-fitted in said hole.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
28 words
An angular velocity sensor apparatus according to claim 7, further including at least one layer of heat storage material disposed between said housing and said heat insulating member.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
121 words
An angular velocity sensor apparatus comprising: an angular velocity sensor including a pair of sensor elements each composed of a vibratory piezoelectric detecting element and a vibratory piezoelectric drive element joined together in longitudinal alignment and disposed out of right-angled orientation with each other, a joining member joining respective free ends of said drive elements so as to form, jointly with said sensor elements, a tuning-fork structure, said tuning-fork structure having a sense axis, and said drive elements having planar shapes defining respective vibrating-element planes extending parallel to a plane containing said sense axis of said tuning-fork structure; a housing for receiving therein said angular velocity sensor; and a heat insulating member disposed on said housing to fully enclose the same.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
121 words
An angular velocity sensor apparatus comprising: an angular velocity sensor including a pair of sensor elements each composed of a vibratory piezoelectric detecting element and a vibratory piezoelectric drive element joined together in longitudinal alignment and disposed out of right-angled orientation with each other, a joining member joining respective free ends of said drive elements so as to form, jointly with said sensor elements, a tuning-fork structure, said tuning-fork structure having a sense axis, and said drive elements having planar shapes defining respective vibrating-element planes extending parallel to a plane containing said sense axis of said tuning-fork structure; a housing for receiving therein said angular velocity sensor; and a heat insulating member disposed on said housing to fully enclose the same.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
44 words
An angular velocity sensor apparatus according to claim 10 wherein said housing has a cylindrical shape, said heat insulating member having a hole having an inside diameter slightly smaller than the outside diameter of said cylindrical housing, said housing being press-fitted in said hole.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
28 words
An angular velocity sensor apparatus according to claim 10, further including at least one layer of heat storage material disposed between said housing and said heat insulating member.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1995-07-21 | 1996-01-20 | 1996-07-21 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1999-07-21 | 2000-01-20 | 2000-07-21 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2003-07-21 | 2004-01-20 | 2004-07-21 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |