The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 06, 1998
Filed:
Sep. 11, 1995
Ralph A Patterson, Moorpark, CA (US);
Litton Systems, Inc., Beverly Hills, CA (US);
Abstract
A rotation sensor for use in a fiber optic gyroscope includes a substantially-planar disk-like coil mounting member of titanium. A would sensor coil is supported by the member in an edgewise fashion, allowing free expansion of the sensor coil in the direction orthogonal to the plane of the member to minimize thermally-induced stressing of the sensor coil. In an alternative embodiment, the free-standing coil is effectively 'split'; that is, one-half is mounted to one side of the member and the remainder to the other side in such a way that the sensitive axes are coincident. Edge ramps are provided in the member for guiding the continuous optical fiber comprising the coil segments from one side of the disk-like mounting member to the other without microbends. A cylindrical inner hub includes thinned and flexible portion for contacting a mounting pedestal of stainless steel composition whereby the differential thermal expansions of the pedestal and mounting member materials will not produce misalignment of the sensor coil with respect to a predetermined input axis of rotation.