Patents by Inventor Erwin Stenzel

Erwin Stenzel has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6564637
    Abstract: A self-testing sensor (especially to measure an angular rate or acceleration) includes a resonant structure, an actor unit configured to excite the structure to a first periodic vibration, a piezoresistive element configured to generate an output signal that depends on the measured quantity, and an isolator configured to isolate a test signal component from the output signal, whereby the test signal component is generated by a second periodic vibration of the structure superposed on the first vibration. A device for self-testing a sensor includes an isolator configured to isolate a test signal component superposed on a useful signal component from the periodic output signal of the sensor, and it includes a comparator configured to compare the test signal component with a predefined value or a test signal fed to the sensor. For the self-test, a second periodic vibration is superposed on a first vibration of the structure, and an output signal containing information on the measured quantity is determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2003
    Assignee: EADS Deutschland GmbH
    Inventors: Josef Schalk, Erwin Stenzel, Karin Bauer, Rainer Freitag, Roland Hilser, Ralf Voss, Matthias Aikele, Helmut Seidel, Ulrich Prechtel
  • Patent number: 6474162
    Abstract: A rate of rotation sensor is suggested which is structured out of silicon (silicon compounds or silicon/glass compounds) or other semiconductor materials by means of micromechanical techniques. The rate of rotation sensor has the form of a tuning fork whose prongs are situated in planes in parallel to the surface of the semiconductor wafer. These prongs are exited to carry out vibrations in a plane perpendicular to the wafer plane. By means of a sensor element which registers the torsion of the tuning fork suspension, the angular velocity of a rotation of the sensor about an axis in parallel to the tuning fork suspension is measured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2002
    Assignee: EADS Deutschland GmbH
    Inventors: Ralf Voss, Karin Bauer, Matthias Rose, Erwin Stenzel, Josef Schalk, Winfried Kupke, Helmut Seidel