John M Christenson

US Patent:

20140000367, Jan 2, 2014

Filed:

Aug 23, 2013

Appl. No.:

13/974307

Inventors:

Marcus Allen Childress - Farmington MN, US
John Carl Christenson - Prior Lake MN, US

Assignee:

ROSEMOUNT AEROSPACE INC. - Burnsville MN

International Classification:

G01C 19/56

US Classification:

7350412

Abstract:

Spring set configurations that include an advantageous combination of spring geometries are disclosed. Spring elements having curved and straight sections, orientation of spring element anchor points with respect to the common radius, orientation of spring element segments with respect to a specific axis, balance of the length of spring elements about the common radius, and mass balance about the common radius can be used to mitigate unwanted out of plane motion. The spring set provides planar motion while reducing undesired out of plane motion making MEMS devices substantially insensitive to the process-induced etch angle variations of the spring elements. The spring set can be used in a MEMS gyro device which maintains the desired resonant modes and consistently low quadrature error even with process variations in manufacturing causing undesirable etch angles.