Rotation Rate Sensor Self-Testing via Drive Element Excitation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for testing the functionality of rotation rate sensors require additional components and circuits, increasing manufacturing costs and failing to detect damages without extra electrodes.
Innovation Solution
A method that allows the rotation rate sensor to be tested without additional components by driving the first or second drive element exclusively in self-test mode, using the same electrodes for both test and normal modes, and comparing stored expected detection signals with actual signals to detect errors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If additional components and circuits are used for testing the rotation rate sensor, then the functionality can be tested, but the manufacturing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The existing drive elements and electrodes are made to serve dual purposes: normal sensor operation and self-testing functions. The same drive elements that drive the proof mass during normal operation are used to excite the structure during self-test, eliminating the need for separate test actuators. Similarly, the same electrodes detect both operational and test-phase signals.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotation rate sensor performs its own self-testing without requiring external test equipment or additional self-test components. The sensor uses its own drive elements and detection electrodes to generate and measure test signals, enabling autonomous functionality verification and damage detection.
2Reliability
If additional electrodes are used for testing, then damages can be detected, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The detection electrodes serve dual purposes by detecting both operational signals during normal sensor function and test signals during self-testing phases. The same electrodes that measure proof mass position during operation are used to detect structural integrity and damage conditions during self-test, eliminating the need for separate test electrodes.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor's existing detection electrodes autonomously perform damage detection during self-test mode without requiring additional test electrodes. The system uses its own detection resources to verify structural integrity, reducing overall device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for testing the functionality of a rotation rate sensor, the rotation rate sensor including a substrate and a micromechanical structure oscillatory with respect to the substrate having a first drive element, a second drive element and at least one Coriolis element, the Coriolis element being excitable to at least one oscillation mode by the first drive element and/or by the second drive element, a detection signal being detected as a function of a force action to be detected on the Coriolis element, the rotation rate sensor being operable optionally in a normal mode or in a self-test mode, the first drive element and the second drive element being driven in the normal mode, characterized in that in the self-test mode, the first drive element or the second drive element is driven optionally exclusively.