Electric motor, for an electric camshaft phaser assembly, including end stop functionality and method thereof

An electric camshaft phaser assembly, comprising:

• an electric camshaft phaser including:
• an input gear arranged to receive a rotational torque;
• an output gear arranged to non-rotatably connect to a camshaft;
• and,
• a phasing assembly engaged with the input gear and the output gear and including an input component;
• and,
• an electric motor including:
• a housing;
• a nut fixed with respect to the housing and including a first plurality of threads;
• a drive shaft including a second plurality of threads, at least a portion of which is meshed with the first plurality of threads, and including a segment non-rotatably connected to the input component of the phasing assembly;
• a rotor disposed within the housing, rotationally fixed to the drive shaft, and radially surrounding the drive shaft;
• a stator disposed within the housing, radially surrounding the rotor of the electric motor, and arranged to be energized to rotate the rotor;
• and,
• a first blocking element, wherein:
• the drive shaft is arranged to rotate the input component of the phasing assembly;
• the input component is arranged to rotate the output gear with respect to the input gear;
• displacement of the drive shaft, in a first axial direction, is blocked by a contact of the first blocking element with the nut;
• and,
• a displacement of the drive shaft in a first circumferential direction is blocked by the contact of the first blocking element with the nut.

A method of operating an electric camshaft phaser assembly, comprising:

• receiving, with an input gear of a camshaft phaser, a rotational torque;
• rotating, with the rotational torque, an output gear of the camshaft phaser;
• energizing a stator of an electric motor;
• rotating, using the stator, a rotor of the electric motor in a first circumferential direction;
• rotating, in the first circumferential direction, a drive shaft of the electric motor non-rotatably connected to the rotor and including a first plurality of threads, at least a portion of which is meshed with a second plurality of threads of a nut fixed with respect to a housing of the electric motor;
• rotating, with the drive shaft, an input component of the camshaft phaser in the first circumferential direction, the input component engaged with the input gear and with the output gear;
• rotating, using the input component, the output gear with respect to the input gear in the first circumferential direction;
• contacting the nut with a first blocking element of the electric motor axially fixed to the drive shaft;
• blocking, with the first blocking element, further rotation of the drive shaft in the first circumferential direction;
• and,
• curtailing further rotation of the output gear with respect to the input gear in the first circumferential direction.