Direct Ion Wind Gyroscope

The direct ion wind gyroscope is a new concept in rotation measurement. Built around a pin-to-mesh ion wind generator, corona discharge around a pin anode ionizes air, which is then driven to a mesh at ground potential by the electric field generated from the discharge voltage. The ground potential mesh is divided into two electrically isolated sections, each of which independently measures electrical current from the ion flow. When rotating, this ionized air flow is deflected by the Coriolis effect. The difference between the electrical current to each half of the divided mesh depends on the magnitude of the deflection and, therefore, the rotation. This is a simplifying improvement on the existing ion wind jet flow gyroscopes, as it uses a single ion wind generator both to create the jet flow and to detect its deflection, leading to significant improvements in robustness and power consumption. This article includes a theoretical justification of the principles of the design, the results of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model showing the flow within the device, and experimental results from a functional direct ion wind gyroscope prototype built to prove the concept.