1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotational rate sensor having intermeshing Coriolis elements.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such rotational rate sensors are generally known. For example, published German patent application document DE 101 08 196 A1 discloses a rotational rate sensor having a first and a second Coriolis element, the first Coriolis element being connected to the second Coriolis element via a coupling element, and the first and the second Coriolis element being driven to vibration along a first direction (referred to in the following as excitation mode or drive vibration), a Coriolis force causing a deflection of the first and second Coriolis element perpendicular to the first direction (referred to in the following as detection mode or detection vibration), the deflection being measurable by a detecting means, in particular an electrode system. Using the rotational rate sensor, in this way a rotational rate acting perpendicular to the first direction can be determined. The above-named publication further discloses that the first and the second Coriolis element are preferably driven to out-of-phase vibration along the first direction, a rotational rate acting perpendicular to the first direction resulting in an opposed deflection between the first and second Coriolis element, so that a differential determination of the rotational rate is enabled, and thus a comparatively good signal-to-noise ratio is achievable. However, a disadvantage of known rotational rate sensors is their relatively high installation space requirement and their comparatively high sensitivity to rotational accelerations, which are expressed as disturbing movement and are superposed on the detection mode so that the rotational rate measurement is falsified.