Sundstrand Data Control, Inc.

Douglas C MacGugan

Ronald B Leonardson

William W Sand

Apparatus and method for increasing the resolution of angular rate of rotation and linear acceleration of a body with respect to three orthogonal axes. Three pairs of accelerometers (10, 12; 14, 16; and 18, 20) are arranged with their sensitive axes antiparallel to each other, and each pair is vibrated back and forth along one of the orthogonal axes. The signals output from the accelerometers are processed to determine S.sub.rate and S.sub.vel for each of the rate axes as a function of the sum and differences of the signals produced by each of the accelerometers. The value of S.sub.vel for each axis is used by a microprocessor (82) to produce a signal equal to an incremental change in velocity for each axis. The incremental change in velocity is then used in conjunction with errors estimated from previous fractional portions of the dither period for each pair of accelerometers to calculate the rate of rotation of the body about each of the axes as a function fo the values for S.sub.rate. As a further aspect of the invention, the incremental change in velocity and incremental changes in angular position may be determined as a running average of previous fractional portions of the dither frequency.

Apparatus and method for processing the output signals of a coriolis

A magnetometer sensor is described for a borehole survey. The magnetometer features a bobbin made from a metal alloy such as copper-nickel, which has a very low magnetic permeability, on the order of 1.0001, which can be joined to a magnetic metal alloy, such as Permalloy, by welding, which can be treated by annealing at a temperature of 1500 degrees Fahrenheit and which has a thermal coefficient of expansion generally on the order of the magnetic alloy. In one particular embodiment, the magnetometer sensor comprises a strip of magnetic metal alloy wrapped around the aforesaid bobbin to define a magnetic core, one excitation winding wrapped around the core, a plastic frame for carrying the magnetic core and excitation winding and at least one sense winding wrapped around the frame, the core and the excitation winding.

Bobbin for a magnetic sensor

A digital accelerometer comprising a linear analog accelerometer and a digitizer. The analog accelerometer includes a housing and conductor means extending outside the housing, and is adapted to produce on the conductor means an analog signal representing linear acceleration along one axis. A casing is positioned against the housing so as to form a substantially enclosed space between the housing and the casing. The digitizer is located within such enclosed space and receives the analog signal and produces a corresponding digital signal. An interface circuit is positioned within the enclosed space for receiving the analog signal and producing a second analog signal that is input to the digitizer. The digital signal produced by the digitizer may be conveyed to a location outside the enclosed space and housing by a flexible strip of insulating material having a plurality of conductive strips embedded therein. In a preferred embodiment, the interface circuit is operative to determine the magnitude of the second analog signal resulting from a particular first analog signal, whereby the dynamic range of the digital accelerometer can be modified by modifying only the interface circuit.

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Issaquah, WA, United States of America

Douglas C MacGugan