ENERGY EFFICIENT BI-STABLE PERMANENT MAGNET ACTUATION SYSTEM

摘要

Bi-stable permanent magnet actuation is a technique employed to move and magnetically hold an armature in electromechanical devices including some valves, wherein, permanent magnets are employed in a manner that places their magnetic field in a bi-stable state to allow a control coil to divert the permanent magnet's magnetic field in one of two directions within the surrounding magnetic material. Control is established using an actuation system comprising, a power source to deliver the desired level of energy, a voltage conditioner such as a DC/DC converter matched to the power source and electromechanical device, an energy storage device such as a capacitor, an output circuit such as an H-Bridge switching circuit, and a control circuit for controlling delivery of short duration current pulses from the energy storage device through the output circuit to the electromechanical device's control coil. Thus, an energy efficient bi-stable permanent magnet actuation system is produced.

主权项

1. A Bi-Stable Permanent Magnet Actuation System (BSPMAS) for bi-stable permanent magnet actuators comprising:
a power source to deliver the desired level of electrical energy; a voltage conditioner to by-pass, rectify, step-down or step-up the voltage from the power source; an energy storage device to receive and store the electrical energy from the voltage conditioner; an output circuit coupled to the energy storage device, wherein the output circuit comprises a plurality of switching means for controlling delivery of bidirectional current pulses from the energy storage device to the control coil of a bi-stable permanent magnet actuator; a control coil, wherein the control coil is an integral part of a bi-stable permanent magnet actuator; and a control circuit to turn on the power source by switching means, to sense the voltage on the energy storage device by sensing circuit, and to activate the switching means of the output circuit, wherein upon switching on of the power source, the voltage conditioner begins sending charge to the energy storage device; upon sensing the correct voltage, the control circuit can simultaneously turns on at least two of the switching means of the output circuit to discharge current in one of two directions to the control coil dependent on the two switching means simultaneously turned on.