Other

National Research Development Corporation

British Technology Group Limited

Newcastle University Ventures Limited

James Stonehouse Burdess

Leonard Maunder

Alan Galloway Jack

Phillip George Dickinson

Barrie Mecrow

John Neville Fawcett

Calum Jack McNeil

John N Fawcett

Dawn Stephenson

James R Hewit

Colin H Fox

John Terence Evans

A resonant sensor for determining structural property changes, in particular for detecting the presence of chemical or biological species, comprises a structure ( ) mounted to be capable of resonating and having a cyclically symmetrical configuration with two independent degenerative modes of vibration of a common natural frequency (f), and means ( ) for exciting the structure ( ) to resonate according to the two degenerative modes, regions ( ) of the structure ( ) being modified such that, on changes in the structural properties of the modified regions ( ), for example by the addition or subtraction of mass, the natural frequencies (f1, f2) of the two modes of vibration become different, the difference in frequencies (&quest;f) being proportional to the change in structural properties.

Resonant sensor

A stator core for an electrical machine includes an annular yoke and a plurality of teeth spaced circumferentially on the annular yoke and extending radially therefrom, the spaces between the teeth defining circumferentially spaced winding slots. The teeth are formed as separate components from a soft magnetic powder material. Each tooth has non-decreasing cross-sectional dimensions in a direction towards a distal tip along a length of the tooth corresponding to a winding slot, and has the same or smaller cross-sectional dimensions along a proximal end of the tooth. Thereby, the tooth may be assembled with a core-back section of the annular yoke and is able to receive a coil before the assembling with the yoke.

Stator with teeth formed from a soft magnetic powder material

Gyroscopic devices

Monitoring tension in an elongate flexible member

A vibratory angular rate sensor of the kind comprising a hollow cylinder (3) secured at one end to a base (5) and free at the other end and transducers (9) on the cylinder (3) for exciting and detecting radial vibrations in the cylinder wall. The transducers (9) are positioned near the end of the cylinder (3) secured to the base (5), and the base (5) rigidly fixes the adjacent end of the cylinder (3) thereby to maximise coupling of the transducers (9) to vibrations produced in the cylinder (3) in operation of the sensor.

Angular rate sensors

A gyroscopic device comprising a resonator in the form of a disc, cylinder or like structure of circular outline, of a composition containing piezo-electric material and preferably made of a an integral mass of such material. The resonator is excited into dilatation-type vibration by electric currents applied to exciting electrodes electro-deposited in a regular pattern around the circumference of the structure, and these vibrations are sensed by detecting electrodes similarly deposited around the wall in a similar but angularly displaced pattern. A measure of any rate of turn which the structure is undergoing about its axis can be derived from the resulting phase shift of the electrical output from the detecting electrodes.

A gyroscopic device comprising a beam, column or other continuous unitary structure of consistent vibratory characteristics along its full length and including piezoelectric material. The piezoelectric effect is used both excite the structure into resonant vibrations along a first axis and then, when a rate of turn is applied along a second axis at right angles to the first, to detect that rate of turn by sensing vibrations set up in the beam in a direction parallel to a third, orthogonal axis due to Coriolis forces resulting from the applied rate of turn. The beam may be held at both ends, or may be supported at one end only with the other end free. The vibrations applied to and sensed within the beam by means of the piezoelectric effect may be parallel, transverse and radial relative to the beam axis, or may be in a rotary sense around that axis. A mode of vibration in which opposite faces of the beam oscillate in parallel directions but out-of-phase is also disclosed.

Gyroscopes

A gyroscope in which sprung elements are supported in cantilever fashion from a rotor and extend in a generally inward direction towards the rotor axis. The centers of mass of the elements are out of alignment with the rotor axis and the elements are free to vibrate in directions parallel to that axis. The output of the gyroscope is derived from detection of these vibrations.

Growing community of inventors

Whitley Bay, United Kingdom

James Stonehouse Burdess