词条 | gyroscope |
释义 | gyroscope Introduction device containing a rapidly spinning wheel or circulating beam of light that is used to detect the deviation of an object from its desired orientation. Gyroscopes are used in compasses (compass) and automatic pilots (automatic pilot) on ships and aircraft, in the steering mechanisms of torpedoes, and in the inertial guidance systems (inertial guidance system) installed in space launch vehicles, ballistic missiles, and orbiting satellites. Mechanical gyroscopes ![]() ![]() Gyroscopes have been used for automatic steering and to correct turn and pitch motion in cruise and ballistic missiles since the German V-1 missile and V-2 missile of World War II. Also during that war, the ability of gyroscopes to define direction with a great degree of accuracy, used in conjunction with sophisticated control mechanisms, led to the development of stabilized gunsights (gunsight), bombsights, and platforms to carry guns and radar antennas aboard ships. The inertial guidance systems (inertial guidance system) used by orbital spacecraft require a small platform that is stabilized to an extraordinary degree of precision; this is still done by traditional gyroscopes, though mechanical systems are being replaced by optical gyroscopes (see below). Larger and heavier devices called momentum wheels (or reaction wheels) also are used in the attitude control systems of some satellites. Optical gyroscopes Optical gyroscopes, with virtually no moving parts, are replacing mechanical gyroscopes in commercial jetliners, booster rockets, and orbiting satellites. Such devices are based on the Sagnac effect, first demonstrated by the French scientist Georges Sagnac in 1913. In Sagnac's demonstration, a beam of light was split such that part traveled clockwise and part counterclockwise around a rotating platform. Although both beams traveled within a closed loop, the beam traveling in the direction of rotation of the platform returned to the point of origin slightly after the beam traveling opposite to the rotation. As a result, a “fringe interference” pattern (alternate bands of light and dark) was detected that depended on the precise rate of rotation of the turntable. ![]() ![]() |
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