Patent ID: 6138510
Filing Date: 2000-10-31
Classification: G01C,H03H

Abstract:
A piezoelectric vibratory gyroscope utilizing an energy-trapping vibration mode, comprising:a piezoelectric plate having first and second principal surfaces opposite to each other, said piezoelectric plate being polarized in a thickness direction thereof;at least one driving electrode, formed on said first principal surface of said piezoelectric plate, for exciting said energy-trapping vibration mode of said piezoelectric plate when said driving electrode is applied with an exciting voltage; andoutput electrodes, also formed on said first principal surface of said piezoelectric plate, for detecting an output voltage induced by a Coriolis force caused by rotation of said piezoelectric plate around an axis perpendicular to the principal surfaces of said piezoelectric plate during a time when said energy-trapping vibration mode of said piezoelectric plate is being excited;wherein said at least one driving electrode and said output electrodes comprise first through n-th electrodes, where n is an integer not smaller than three, formed in a generally central area of said first principal surface of said piezoelectric plate at positions corresponding to first through nth vertexes of a polygon having n angles, andsaid at least one driving electrode and said output electrodes being formed at a portion of said first principal surface of said piezoelectric plate which is not in a neighborhood of edges of said first principal surface of said piezoelectric plate.