Till now we have learned about the free gyro. Now, We will learn how to restrict the free Gyro from drifting and tilting. To do so, We need to address certain issues which plays a significant role in converting a free Gyro to a Gyro Compass. They are :
- 1º of freedom has to be trimmed down from it.
- It has to be provided a pendulous moment. We can do so by adding extra weight to its lower part.
- In addition to this, there are still some items which need to be provided to a free Gyro for making it a Gyrocompass. These additional items are compiled altogether as a bunch in one small and hollow metal ball. This hollow metal ball along with all additional items is known as Sensitive element. It is the most important part of a Gyrocompass. It is also referred as Gyro sphere. The sensitive element consists :
(i) Two small but powerful rotors arranged in such a way that they will maintain an angle of forty five degree with the main meridian.
(ii) A small amount of additional mass to be included with the rotor to trim down its 1º of freedom. By doing so, We can move the CG (Center of Gravity) of the gyrosphere’s rotor from suspension point.
When these stuffs are added to the free gyro, It is then ready to act as a Gyro Compass. However, still this Gyrocompass will show some errors due to the various factors involved with it, like Speed, acceleration, sphere balance etc. These errors can also be nullified and accuracy can be increased. These we will cover separately in another post.
Just for your reference, Here are the few rare terminologies involved with Gyro:
- Gyro’s Pole: The corner/point on the axis of Gyro from where if we see the rotor, the rotor will seem to rotate in anti clockwise direction.
- Force’s Pole: The corner/point on the axis of Gyro from where if we see the effect of applied force on rotor, then it will seem to be in anti clockwise direction.
- Pole’s Rule: Whenever an external force is applied on the Gyro, The Gyro’s pole will deflect near the Force’s pole in the smallest path available
- Meridian: It is the imaginary perpendicular line which connects both poles of the Earth i.e the north pole and the south pole bisecting the Earth into identical sections.
