Piezoelectric Rate Gyroscope

Application ID: 21471


This model shows how to analyze a tuning fork based piezoelectric rate gyroscope.

The reverse piezoelectric effect is used to drive an in-plane tuning fork mode. This mode is coupled to an out of plane mode by the Coriolis force and the resulting out of plane motion is sensed by the direct piezoelectric effect.

The geometry of the tuning forks is designed so that the eigenfrequencies of the nearby modes are separated in frequency space. The frequency response of the system is computed and the rotation rate sensitivity is evaluated.

This model example illustrates applications of this type that would nominally be built using the following products: