Design and experiment of a novel bell-shaped vibratory gyro

Abstract The Bell-Shaped Vibratory Gyro (BVG) is a novel axisymmetric shell resonator gyroscope, which is inspired by the Chinese traditional bell that produces exceptionally pleasing and pure musical notes. It is anticipated that the BVG will exhibit similar qualities. This paper presents the design and experiment of a BVG. The BVG includes a bell-shaped resonator, piezoelectric elements and a signal processing circuit. The eight piezoelectric elements are attached to the wall of the bell-shaped resonator, to excite the resonator and detect the signal to calculate the angular rate. Firstly, this paper analyzes the working principle and vibration characteristics of the BVG. The BVG’s mathematical model is built using traditional elasticity using the orthogonal curvilinear coordinate system. The equivalent dynamic equation is obtained based on the mathematical model. Secondly, the relationship between the structural parameters, material parameters and characteristics of vibration is analyzed by a FEM. Then, the structural parameters are optimized. Finally, the prototype of the BVG is designed. Experiments in a laboratory environment show that the zero-bias instability is 4.22°/h, the random walk is 0.64°/h 1/2 , linearity is 1.2% and the range is ±300°/s.