Rotary electromagnetic actuator
AssigneeCamcon Auto Limited
InventorWladyslaw Wygnanski
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A rotary electromagnetic actuator is provided which is suitable for opening and closing a valve for example. The actuator comprises a rotor (10), a stator (16), and a biasing arrangement (20, 100, 102, 104, 106) for applying a torque to the rotor during at least part of its rotation. A plurality of stable rest positions (200; 316, 318; 400) for the rotor are defined by forces acting on the rotor and the actuator is controllable to move the rotor from one stable rest position to another. The torque applied by the biasing arrangement varies with the rotational position of the rotor such that at a primary rest position and at least a second rest position, it is sufficiently low to enable selection of those positions, and then it increases beyond the second rest position.
Claims18
An electromagnetic actuator comprising:
- a rotor;
- a stator, with the rotor arranged for rotation in the stator;
- a biasing arrangement for applying a torque to the rotor during at least part of its rotation,
- wherein a plurality of stable rest positions for the rotor are defined by forces acting on the rotor, and the actuator is controllable to move the rotor from one stable rest position to another, and
- the torque applied by the biasing arrangement varies with the rotational position of the rotor such that at a primary rest position and at least a second rest position it is sufficiently low to enable selection of those positions, and then it increases beyond the second rest position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.