Locking mechanism for a motor
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsVikas Markanday, Bala Sridhar, Daniel Antoniades, Ryan Rawnsley
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A locking mechanism for a motor is provided. The locking mechanism includes a detent mounted on a shaft coupled to the motor, and a solenoid including an electromagnetic coil, a plunger, and a spring that holds the plunger at an extended state. The plunger engages the detent at the extended state when no voltage is applied, and the spring is configured to exert a predetermined force for the plunger to engage the detent to lock the shaft. The plunger retracts away from the detent to allow rotation of the motor shaft when a voltage is applied to the solenoid.
Claims13
A drive assembly, comprising:
- a motor including a motor shaft;
- a detent provided on the motor shaft;
- a solenoid including an electromagnetic coil, a plunger, a spring that holds the plunger at an extended state, and a position ring connected to the plunger,
- wherein the plunger engages the detent in the extended state and is disengaged from the detent in a retracted state;
- and
- a plunger sensor mounted to the solenoid and configured to detect a state of the plunger based on a positioning of the position ring,
- wherein the plunger sensor is an inductive sensor mounted to a sidewall of a casing of the solenoid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.