Vibratory Accelerometer and Gyroscope

A device that measures both translational acceleration and rotation exploits the dynamics of a vibratory structure that resembles a clover leaf. This device is related to other vibratory accelerometers and vibratory gyroscopes in which vibrations in suitably shaped structures are excited electrostatically and measured either capacitively or piezoresistively. The basic principle of this device could also be applied to a different structure, provided that, like the clover-leaf structure, it vibrates in substantially degenerate modes and provided further that it has a small mass imbalance.