Metering Valve
AssigneeHamilton Sundstrand Corporation
InventorWojciech Plucinski
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A metering valve comprising a solenoid having: a coil mounted on a core; and an armature moveable axially with respect to the core and against a return bias in response to a current in the coil; a variable capacitor having a first plate mounted for movement with the armature and a second plate fixed with respect to the core. The metering valve comprises an electronic feedback loop which is used to adjust the current in the coil based on a feedback signal derived from of the capacitance of the variable capacitor. A reference capacitor may be provided having opposing third and fourth plates at a set separation. A valve body may house the solenoid, the variable capacitor and the reference capacitor.
Claims16
A metering valve comprising:
- a solenoid having:
- a coil mounted on a core;
- and
- an armature moveable axially with respect to the core and against a return bias in response to a current in the coil;
- a variable capacitor having a first plate mounted for movement with the armature and a second plate fixed with respect to the core;
- and
- an electronic feedback loop which is used to adjust the current in the coil based on a feedback signal derived from of the capacitance of the variable capacitor.
A method for controlling an armature displacement in a metering valve, the method comprising:
- providing a current in a coil of a solenoid to displace an armature axially with respect to a core against a return bias;
- observing a capacitance of a variable capacitor, the capacitance varying according to a displacement of the armature;
- returning a feedback signal via an electronic feedback loop derived from of the capacitance of the variable capacitor, and
- utilising the feedback signal to adjust the current flowing in the coil.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.