Stator-Free Low Angular Speed Sensor Based on a MEMS Gyroscope

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the implementation and tests the performance of a low angular speed sensor for rotary machinery based on a microelectromechanical system gyroscope. First, an experimental test setup is presented that features a top-of-the-line optical absolute angle encoder as a reference for characterizing the proposed sensor in a controlled environment chamber. A prototype of the proposed sensor has been designed and implemented with its architecture and hardware design described in detail. For the experimental purposes, a wireless synchronization scheme between the reference and the gyroscopic sensor is also discussed. The experimental measurement has taken place to benchmark the performance of the realized sensor. The experimental data have been processed and analyzed, and the results have been presented. The gyroscopic sensor has shown satisfactory results. The sensor has an accuracy of 0.06 °/s, standard deviation of 0.45 °/s, and hysteresis of 0.08 °/s.