Damper to control fluid flow and associated methods

A damper for a heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system comprising:

• a main body;
• a stator carried by said main body, said stator including a plurality of stator blades;
• a rotor rotatably connected to said stator and carried by said main body, said rotor including a plurality of blades moveable between an opened position and a closed position;
• wherein the shape of each of the stator blades and rotor blades, in cross section, has a substantially flat bottom and a narrowed top, so that when the rotor is in the opened position, the substantially flat bottom of each of the stator blades and rotor blades is aligned, and the narrowed top of each of stator blades and rotor blades is aligned to form a converging-diverging nozzle;
• wherein said stator and said rotor are carried by said main body so that airflow through said main body is substantially perpendicular thereto;
• wherein the opened position is defined as the at least one stator blade being aligned with the at least one rotor blade, and wherein the closed position is defined as the at least one stator blade being offset from the at least one rotor blade;
• and
• an actuator comprising two opposing electromagnets located at opposing ends of a stationary support structure, an actuator bar having opposing ends made of a metallic material;
• and
• a connection member connecting the actuator bar to the rotor such that energizing one of the electromagnets moves the actuator bar linearly and rotates the rotor.