Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Kazumitu Ueda

Toshihiko Ichinose

Hiroshi Takenaka

Jirou Terada

A driving piezoelectric bimorph element for tuning fork vibration and a detecting piezoelectric bimorph element for angular rate detection are aligned and put together, end to end, with their vibration directions positioned perpendicular to each other. Two of the above structure are made into a tuning fork like angular rate sensor. The polarization directions of the piezoelectric elements, that make up the piezoelectric bimorph element by bonding them together are made the same and also the two outer electrodes of the bimorph element are connected electrically with each other, with a resultant angular rate sensor capable of detecting angular rates in a stable manner against changing ambient temperatures. Particularly, the use of a conductive film electrode for making a connection between two outer electrodes and the almost equal surface areas between two outer electrodes made it possible for the angular rate sensor to detect angular rates with much stability and less temperature drifts.

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Sakai, Japan

Kazumitu Ueda