SubmittedSriram Menon (06M142) Harsha Karanth (06M137) Anupam Krishnamurthy(06M114)
An Introduction to Gyroscopes
As early as the 1700s, spinning devices were being used for sea navigation in foggy conditions. The more traditional spinning gyroscope was invented in the early 1800.s, and the French scientist Jean Bernard Leon Foucault coined the term gyroscope in 1852.
A gyroscope
A gyroscope is a device for measuring or maintaining orientation, based on the principles of angular momentum. The device is a spinning wheel or disk whose axle is free to take any orientation. This orientation changes much less in response to a given external torque than it would without the large angular momentum associated with the gyroscope 's high rate of spin. Since external torque is minimized by mounting the device in gimbals, its orientation remains nearly fixed, regardless of any motion of the platform on which it is mounted.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s gyroscopes were patented for use on ships. Around 1916, the gyroscope found use in aircraft where it is still commonly used today. Throughout the 20th century improvements were made on the spinning gyroscope. In the 1960s, optical gyroscopes using lasers were first introduced and soon found commercial success in aeronautics and military applications. In the last ten to fifteen years, MEMS gyroscopes have been introduced and advancements have been made to create mass-produced successful products with several advantages over traditional macro- scale devices.
Working of a Gyroscope
Angular Momentum Conservation Traditional spinning gyroscopes work on the basis that a spinning object that is tilted perpendicularly to the direction of the spin will have a precession. The precession keeps the device oriented in a vertical direction so the angle relative to the reference surface can be measured. Its most fundamentally described by the conservation of angular
References: A Novel 3-D MEMS Gyroscope Dr. Ronen Nakash, Prof. Dr. Jürg Dual, Dr. Stefan Blunier,Dr. Ueli Marti, Institute of Mechanical Systems, ETH, Zürich, Switzerland. A Critical Review of MEMS Gyroscopes Technology and Commercialization StatusSteven Nasiri MEMS gyroscopes and their applications- A study of the advancements in the form, function and use of MEMS gyroscopesAaron Burg, Azeem Meuani, Bob Sandheinrich, Michael Wickmann scholar.google.com en.wikipedia.org