Design and test of displacement transducer for an electrode-insulated electrostatically suspended gyroscope

An electrode-insulated electrostatically suspended gyroscope has been designed and fabricated in IEE. The four-axis non-orthogonal electrostatic suspension system has eight symmetrically aligned electrodes with insulation for the sake of safety. However, insulation of the electrodes has effect on the displacement measurement of the bearing system, the influences of which on gap capacitances and displacement measurement are studied, and the model of the displacement transducer is thus remodeled based on the analysis. Preliminary tests show that displacement transducer can measure the displacement of the rotor with a measurement accuracy of 0.2 μm, under the conditions that the electrodes are insulated.