Design of a Parametrically Excited Tuning Fork Microgyroscope
Parametrically excited tuning fork micro gyroscopes have several attractive features. Most of all, the excitation may be externalized, which could simplify the design and fabrication of micro gyroscopes. However, there are no readily applicable tools to guide the design of these gyroscopes since the gyro structures are more complex than those structures whose responses to parametric excitations are known and since finite element analysis tools are not capable of studying parametric excitations. In this work, we adopt a novel approach to obtain a simplified model of the parametrically excited structure. Parameters in the simplified model are obtained using dynamic analysis capability of typical finite element programs and static nonlinear analysis capabilities.