PURPOSE: To obtain an inclination sensor which can simultaneously detect angles of rotation in two directions with reference to the vertical axis of an underwater moving body by one inclination sensor, whose reliability is enhanced and which is small and low-cost.
CONSTITUTION: A floater 12 is composed of a float and of a weight, and it is formed to be a spherical shape in which one specific point is always directed in the vertical direction and which has a surface in which the reflectivity of light is changed simply in the vertical direction from the upper part toward the lower part. The floater 12 is housed inside a spherical stator 11 in which a liquid is sealed, and it can be moved freely at the inside. A first light-emitting element 21 to a third light-emitting element 23 are mounted on, and attached to mutually orthogonal axes on the stator 11, and they project beams of light respectively toward the floater 12. The beams of light which are projected from the individual light-emitting elements 21 to 23 are reflected by the floater 12, and they are detected by a first photodetector 31 to a third photodetector 33. An attitude operation part 44 finds the attitude of an underward moving body, i.e., a pitch angle and a roll angle, on the basis of reflected-light-quantity signals detected by the photodetectors 31 to 33.
IIDA YASUHISA
YAGUCHI SEIJI
