Design of a micro control moment gyroscope with a large torque output

A novel micro control moment gyroscope( MCMG) with a large torque output is presented. In contrast with the traditional CMG, MCMG uses the angular vibration instead of angular rotation. The MCMG outputs the torque through a coupling of rotor angular vibration and gimbal angular vibration based on the Coriolis Effect. Through locating the electrodes in the centre of the MCMG and etching a trench in the glass wafer, the electrostatic pull-in effect is largely alleviated and the driving voltage is decreased. An array configuration using four MCMGs as an element stabilizes the overall torque output at the array level and eliminates the unwanted torques. The voltage phase differences between every two MCMGs are 90° in sequence. The torque output of the MCMG array is about 5. 12x 10-⁶ Nm. At last the process flow for this MCMG and possible applications in attitude control of a microsatellite is discussed.