Fluidic mechanism for dual-axis gyroscope

Abstract

In this paper, we report a further study of flow-network generating four jet flows which circulate in a sealed device to experimentally investigate the feasibility and efficiency of a dual-axis gyroscope. The experiment is carried out successfully and the experimental results reasonably agreed with those obtained by numerical analysis using OpenFOAM. The flow rectifying coefficient is determined using the mathematical lump model for a vibrating system, which takes into account of the device geometry and resonant frequency. Experimental and numerical results demonstrate that the coefficient of the new system developed in this study is significantly higher than those of conventional designs. The hotwire-integrated device which can function as a dual-axis gyroscope is tested using a turntable with speeds up to 1900 rpm. The scale factor and cross-sensitivity of the system are 0.26 μV s/° and 1.2%, respectively. The cross-sensitivity and the effects of linear acceleration, actuating voltage on the diaphragm, heating power and position of hotwires are also investigated.