Robust design of a vibratory gyroscope with an unbalanced inner torsion gimbal using axiomatic design

Abstract

Recently, there has been considerable interest in micro gyroscopes made of silicon chips. These can be applied to many microelectromechanical systems, such as devices for stabilization, general rate control, directional pointing, autopilot systems, and missile control. A decoupled vibratory gyroscope has been fabricated and tested. In this research, design improvement is obtained from numerical analyses as well as from a theoretical design point of view. The existing design is analyzed by using the axiomatic approach, which provides a general framework for design. For axiomatic design, the functional requirements (FRs) are twofold: firstly, the natural frequencies should have fixed values, and secondly the system should be robust to large tolerances. According to the independence axiom, the design parameters (DPs) are classified into the same number of groups as the FRs. Each group of DPs is separately determined according to the sequence indicated by axiomatic design. When a group of DPs should be determined to enhance robustness, the Taguchi concept is employed to maintain robust performance regardless of the tolerances. It is noted that the Taguchi method is used as a unit process in the sequence of the axiomatic design.