Devices including rotating members supported by magnetic bearings

TLDR: In this article, a gyroscope including a rotating member which is supported by a pair of magnetic bearings has two detectors for providing signals representative of the relative position of the member with respect to a common axis of the two bearings along first and second directions perpendicular to the axis and to each other.

Abstract: A gyroscope including a rotating member which is supported by a pair of magnetic bearings. Each bearing has two detectors for providing signals representative of the relative position of the member with respect to a common axis of the two bearings along first and second directions perpendicular to the axis and to each other. A feed-back loop controls biasing means in each bearing assembly and includes, for each direction, a summation circuit which sums the signals from the detectors corresponding to that direction in the two bearings and applies correction signals increasing with the summed signals to the biasing means corresponding to the directions in the two bearings. A subtracting circuit subtracts the signals from the detectors corresponding to the considered direction in the two bearings and applied correction signals to the biasing means, but through a polarity inverter in one of the bearings.