Parametric design consideration of a vibro-elastic bimorph piezoelectric converter for a ring laser gyroscope

Abstract

Gyroscopes have been used as suitable inertial instruments for navigation, guidance, and attitude controls. Their accuracy as very sensitive sensors is limited by the lock-in region ( dead band) due to frequency coupling between two counter-propagating waves at low rotation rates. This frequency coupling gives no phase difference, and no angular increment is detected. The problem can be overcome by mechanically dithering the gyroscope. Mechanically, the vibro-elastic bimorph piezoelectric converter ( hereinafter, dither) is used for feasible control. This paper presents the design considerations of the mechanical dither, taking mechanical and piezoelectric parameters into account. Verification of the theoretical equations is performed through FEM (finite-element method) applications.