Bifurcation Analysis of a Micro-Machined Gyroscope with Nonlinear Stiffness and Electrostatic Forces

The bifurcation of the periodic response of a micro-machined gyroscope with cubic supporting stiffness and fractional electrostatic forces is investigated. The pull-in phenomenon is analyzed to show that the system can have a stable periodic response when the detecting voltage is kept within a certain range. The method of averaging and the residue theorem are employed to give the averaging equations for the case of primary resonance and 1:1 internal resonance. Transition sets on the driving/detecting voltage plane that divide the parameter plane into 12 persistent regions and the corresponding bifurcation diagrams are obtained via the singularity theory. The results show that multiple solutions of the resonance curves appear with a large driving voltage and a small detecting voltage, which may lead to an uncertain output of the gyroscope. The effects of driving and detecting voltages on mechanical sensitivity and nonlinearity are analyzed for three persistent regions considering the operation requirements of the micro-machined gyroscope. The results indicate that in the region with a small driving voltage, the mechanical sensitivity is much smaller. In the other two regions, the variations in the mechanical sensitivity and nonlinearity are analogous. It is possible that the system has a maximum mechanical sensitivity and minimum nonlinearity for an appropriate range of detecting voltages.