General Electric Company

Freescale Semiconductor,inc.

Nxp USA, Inc.

Todd Frederick Miller

Yizhen Lin

Sergey Alexandrovich Zotov

Christopher Michael Puleo

Christopher Fred Keimel

John Richard Nelson

Andrew C McNeil

Alex David Corwin

David Joseph Monk

David Andrew Shoudy

Gary G Li

Woo Tae Park

Wei Gao

Christine Lynne Pitner

Marco Fuhrmann

Ralf Lenigk

David A Hayner

Keith L Kraver

Craig Patrick Galligan

Xiaohui Chen

Lisa Z Zhang

Tom D Ohe

A gyroscope includes at least one anchor and a plurality of gyroscope spring elements coupled to the at least one anchor. The gyroscope also includes a plurality of concentric rings coupled to the plurality of gyroscope spring elements and configured to encircle the plurality of gyroscope spring elements. The gyroscope further includes an excitation/detection/tuning unit electrostatically coupled to the plurality of concentric rings.

Inertial sensing systems and methods of manufacturing the same

A system for extracting material from a region of interest includes a fluid delivery base comprising an inlet channel and an outlet channel formed within the fluid delivery base, a gasket affixed to the fluid delivery base, wherein the gasket comprises at least one opening exposing an open end of the inlet channel and an open end of the outlet channel; a support comprising a sample-supporting surface facing the gasket and an opposing surface; and an alignment member coupled to the opposing surface in a fixed position and such that the support is positioned between the fluid delivery base and the alignment member, wherein one or both of the alignment member or the fluid delivery base are biased towards one another by a force (e.g., a magnet or spring force) and wherein the fluid delivery base is separable from the support and configured to move along a plane of the sample-supporting surface to align with the alignment member.

Extraction of materials from regions of interest in a sample

A method for monitoring a dynamic system includes generating system measurement data substantially representative of at least one measured attribute of a plurality of attributes of a dynamic system using at least one measurement device and generating a Poincare map based on the system measurement data. The Poincare map includes representations of the plurality of attributes of the dynamic system. The method also includes determining at least one value for a first attribute of the plurality of attributes of the dynamic system based on the generated Poincare map and regulating real-time operation of the dynamic system based at least partially on the at least one determined value of the first attribute.

Methods and systems for monitoring a dynamic system

A system and method for electrostatic carouseling for inertial sensor gyrocompassing is disclosed. For performing such electrostatic carouseling for inertial sensor gyrocompassing, a three-rotational degree of freedom spring-mass system is provided that includes a proof mass suspended by a plurality of support springs and having three rotational degrees of freedom, a plurality of driving electrodes, and a controller operably connected to the plurality of driving electrodes. The control applies an excitation voltage to the driving electrodes to generate an electrostatic force, with the controller selectively applying the excitation voltage to the plurality of driving electrodes to generate an electrostatic force that varies an orientation of a gyroscope sensitivity axis for carouseling of the three-rotational degree of freedom spring-mass system.

System and method of electrostatic carouseling for gyrocompassing

A sensor with continuous self test is provided. An exemplary inertial sensor may include one or more self test electrodes so that one or more test signals may be applied to the electrodes during normal operation of the sensor. Normal sensor output may be read and stored during normal operation, when self test signals are typically not applied to the sensor. The normal sensor output provides a baseline for comparison to a sensor offset error detection signal produced when a test signal may be applied to one self test electrode, and also to a sense error detection signal when a test signal may be applied to both self test electrodes.

Continuous selftest for inertial sensors at 0 Hz

A system for extracting material from a region of interest includes a fluid delivery base comprising an inlet channel and an outlet channel formed within the fluid delivery base; a gasket affixed to the fluid delivery base, wherein the gasket comprises at least one opening exposing an open end of the inlet channel and an open end of the outlet channel; a support comprising a sample-supporting surface facing the gasket and an opposing surface; and an alignment member coupled to the opposing surface in a fixed position and such that the support is positioned between the fluid delivery base and the alignment member, wherein one or both of the alignment member or the fluid delivery base are biased towards one another by a force (e.g., a magnet or spring force) and wherein the fluid delivery base is separable from the support and configured to move along a plane of the sample-supporting surface to align with the alignment member.

An electroosmotic pump comprises a plurality of membranes comprising one or more positive electroosmotic membranes and one or more negative electroosmotic membranes, a plurality of electrodes comprising cathodes and anodes, and a power source. Each of the positive electroosmotic membranes and negative electroosmotic membranes are disposed alternatively and wherein at least one of the cathodes is disposed on one side of one of the membranes and at least one of the anodes is disposed on other side of the membrane. At least one of the cathodes or anodes is disposed between a positive electroosmotic membrane and negative electroosmotic membrane.

Electro-osmotic pump

A MEMS device () includes a proof mass () coupled to and surrounding an immovable structure (). The immovable structure () includes fixed fingers () extending outwardly from a body () of the structure (). The proof mass () includes movable fingers (), each of which is disposed between a pair () of the fixed fingers (). A central area () of the body () is coupled to an underlying substrate (), with the remainder of the immovable structure () and the proof mass () being suspended above the substrate () to largely isolate the MEMS device () from package stress, Additionally, the MEMS device () includes isolation trenches () and interconnects () so that the fixed fingers (), the fixed fingers (), and the movable fingers () are electrically isolated from one another to yield a differential device configuration.

MEMS device with central anchor for stress isolation

A microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sensor device () includes a sensor portion () and a sensor portion () that are coupled together to form a vertically integrated configuration having a hermetically sealed chamber (). The sensor portions () can be formed utilizing different micromachining techniques, and are subsequently coupled utilizing a wafer bonding technique to form the sensor device (). The sensor portion () includes one or more sensors (), and the sensor portion () includes one or more sensors (). The sensors () are located inside the chamber () facing the sensors () also located inside the chamber (). The sensors () are configured to sense different physical stimuli, such as motion, pressure, and magnetic field.

Vertically integrated MEMS sensor device with multi-stimulus sensing

Apparatus and methods for applying stress-induced offset compensation and/or scale factor correction in sensor devices are provided. One sensor device () includes an integrated circuit device (), a transducer () coupled to the ASIC device, and a stress sensor () coupled to the transducer or the integrated circuit device and configured to measure stress on the sensor device independent of the transducer. Another sensor device () includes a transducer, a sensor package () enclosing the transducer, and a stress sensor () coupled to the sensor device package and configured to measure stress on the sensor device independent of the transducer. A method includes detecting, via a stress sensor, an amount of stress being applied to the sensor device and adjusting, via the stress sensor and independent of the transducer, an output of the sensor device by the detected amount of stress.

Apparatus and methods for applying stress-induced offset compensation in sensor devices

A transducer () includes sensors () that are bonded to form a vertically integrated configuration. The sensor () includes a proof mass () movably coupled to and spaced apart from a surface () of a substrate (). The sensor () includes a proof mass () movably coupled to and spaced apart from a surface () of a substrate (). The substrates () are coupled with the surface () of substrate () facing the surface () of substrate (). Thus, the proof mass () faces the proof mass (). The sensors () are fabricated separately and can be formed utilizing differing micromachining techniques. The sensors () are subsequently coupled () utilizing a wafer bonding technique to form the transducer (). Embodiments of the transducer () may include sensing along one, two, or three orthogonal axes and may be adapted to detect movement at different acceleration sensing ranges.

Vertically integrated MEMS acceleration transducer

A transducer packageincludes a substratehaving a first axis of symmetryand a second axis of symmetryarranged orthogonal to the first axis of symmetry. At least a first sensorand a second sensoreach of which are symmetrically arranged on the substraterelative to one of the first and second axes of symmetryand.The first and second sensorsandare adapted to detect movement parallel to the other of the first and second axes of symmetryand. The first sensoris adapted to detect movement over a first sensing range and the second sensoris adapted to detect movement over a second sensing range, the second sensing range differing from the first sensing range.

Multiple axis transducer with multiple sensing range capability

An apparatus () and method () for sensing acceleration are provided. The method includes producing () a first signal in response to an acceleration sensed by a transducer, producing () a second signal based on the first signal, and actuating () the transducer in response to the second signal to remove offset in the transducer. The first signal represents the acceleration, and the second signal represents a low frequency component associated with an offset in the transducer. The apparatus () includes a transducer () producing a capacitance in response to the acceleration, a sensing system () producing a first signal from the capacitance representing the acceleration, and a compensation system () coupled between the sensing system and transducer. The compensation system produces a second signal based on the first signal for substantially removing an offset of the transducer.

Method and apparatus for closed loop offset cancellation

A differential capacitive sensor () includes a movable element () pivotable about a rotational axis (). The movable element () includes first and second sections (). The first section () has an extended portion () distal from the rotational axis (). A static layer () is spaced away from a first surface () of the moveable element (), and includes a first actuation electrode (), a first sensing electrode (), and a third sensing electrode (). A static layer () is spaced away from a second surface () of the moveable element () and includes a second actuation electrode (), a second sensing electrode (), and a fourth sensing electrode (). The first and second electrodes () oppose the first section (), the third and fourth electrodes () oppose the second section (), and the first and second electrodes () oppose the extended portion ().

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Mechanicville, NY, United States of America

Todd Frederick Miller