Simulation of levitation control for a micromachined electrostatically levitated gyroscope

An electrostatically levitated gyroscope based on UV-LIGA fabrication process is introduced. The stable levitation is vitally important for the gyroscope to work efficiently. Two types of levitation control model of such a device are presented to realize initial levitation. The axial squeeze film damping coefficient is calculated by finite element analysis and deduced by analytical solution. From the analysis of the proportional integral differential (PID) control completed by the bias and the feedback linearization control (FLC) without bias. It can be seen that the PID control with the bias can linearize the control equation near the null position and FLC can realize the large travel with desired dynamic performance and global stability. But it has steady-state error, which can be switched to the PID controller to minimize. At last, the levitation control system is constructed.