Influence of nonuniform thickness of hemispherical resonator gyro shell on its unbalance parameters

Formulas for the unbalance components of the hemispherical resonator gyro (HRG) with a shell of variable thickness in meridian direction are obtained. Various laws of thickness reduction from the pole to the edge are considered. It is shown that for the second form of excited oscillations, relative error in unbalance components (with the thickness variation neglected) can reach 10–15%. The obtained formulas for unbalance components, taking into account the variable thickness of the shell, can significantly improve the accuracy of HRG balancing, which is the most important process in the manufacture of medium and high precision devices.