Electronic lock with monitoring and protection circuitry
AssigneeASSA ABLOY Americas Residential Inc.
InventorKevin Pasma
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electronic lock with monitoring and protection circuitry is provided. In example embodiments, an electronic lock may include a battery status monitoring circuit configured to determine at least one of a battery life or a battery health of a battery of the electronic lock. In some embodiments, an electronic lock may include a motor runaway protection circuit configured to trigger at least a partial reset of the electronic lock when a motor of the electronic lock enters a runaway state. In additional example embodiments, an electronic lock may include a back-drive protection circuit configured to protect the electronic lock against a back-drive voltage generated by a motor of the electronic lock during rotation of a manual turn piece.
Claims20
An electronic lock, comprising:
- a battery;
- a battery status monitoring circuit including:
- a battery health load, the battery health load simulating a load experienced by the battery during operation of the electronic lock;
- a processing unit;
- and
- a memory device storing instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the electronic lock to:
- selectively connect the battery to the battery health load;
- determine a battery health voltage of the battery, the battery health voltage of the battery being a voltage supplied by the battery while the battery is connected to the battery health load;
- and
- based on the battery health voltage, determine a battery health of the battery.
An electronic lock, comprising:
- a latch assembly including a bolt movable between a locked position and an unlocked position;
- a motor configured to move the bolt from the locked position to the unlocked position or from the unlocked position to the locked position;
- a processing unit;
- and
- a motor runaway protection circuit, the motor runaway protection circuit configured to:
- when the motor is active, measure a voltage representative of a current draw of the motor, wherein the motor is activated by the processing unit;
- determine whether the measured voltage exceeds a predetermined runaway voltage threshold;
- and
- in response to determining that the measured voltage exceeds the predetermined runaway voltage threshold, trigger at least a partial reset of the electronic lock, wherein the at least partial reset of the electronic lock causes the motor to deactivate.
An electronic lock comprising:
- a latch assembly including a bolt movable between a locked position and an unlocked position;
- a motor configured to move the bolt from the locked position to the unlocked position or from the unlocked position to the locked position;
- a turn piece mechanically connected to the latch assembly, wherein rotation of the turn piece moves the bolt from the locked position to the unlocked position or from the unlocked position to the locked position;
- and
- a back-drive protection circuit configured to:
- measure a voltage generated by the motor during rotation of the turn piece;
- determine whether the voltage exceeds a predetermined back-drive voltage threshold;
- and
- in response to the voltage exceeding the predetermined back-drive voltage threshold, clamp the voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.