Impact of assembly on signal detection from thin-wall rotors of micro-gyroscopes

The assembly of sealed hollow rotors, a key component in achieving liquid-levitated micro-gyroscopes, represents a significant challenge. The rotor is a thin-wall cylinder composed of materials that are only 100-μm thick. Furnace soldering and hand soldering are used to join the work pieces, but produce defects evident from deformations and surface roughness. Modeling and experiments show that the deformation is related to the temperature during assembly and the mode by which heat is applied to the components. Temperature affects the deformation through thermal stress and air pressure on the rotor, but the mode of heating creates a big difference. Surface deformation of the rotor alters the detecting capacitance and introduces uncertainty in detection sensitivity of the gyroscope. Experiments show that at 220°C, furnace soldering of rotors causes a great decrease in detection sensitivity, leading to a relative uncertainty of nearly 40%. In contrast, hand soldering leads to a relative uncertainty of about 5%. Spot heating of the rotor during assembly is much better than total heating as less thermal stress is generated and the air pressure difference is almost eliminated. Lowering the temperature is helpful to as long as the connection is sufficiently strengthened.