Patent ID: 7216538
Filing Date: 2007-05-15
Classification: G01C

Abstract:
1. A vibratory angular rate sensor comprising: a vibrator having a vibrating element arranged to oscillate along a first direction, said element being arranged to further oscillate along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction when subjected to angular rate about a third direction perpendicular to said first and second directions; a driving circuit for causing said vibrator to oscillate said vibrating element at a predetermined frequency along said first direction; an oscillation detector for detecting oscillations of said vibrating element along said second direction and generating a voltage representative of the detected oscillations; a first synchronous detector for synchronously detecting a primary frequency component of said generated voltage using clock pulses of said predetermined frequency and producing an output signal containing the detected primary frequency component; a second synchronous detector for synchronously detecting an odd-numbered harmonic of said generated voltage using clock pulses of the frequency of the odd-numbered harmonic; and a harmonic canceller for canceling a residual odd-numbered harmonic component contained in said output signal of said first synchronous detector with the odd-numbered harmonic detected by said second synchronous detector.