The Penn State Research Foundation

Todd D Batzel

Christopher Reed Martin

A switched nozzle valve (SNV) for gas flow regulation includes a nozzle and a valve element. The nozzle includes an orifice with a fixed cross-section and a converging section converging towards the orifice for achieving sonic velocity of the gas in the orifice. The valve element is movable between a fully closed position seated on the nozzle at a valve seat and a fully open position spaced from the valve seat. The SNV further includes a control for controlling an operator for switching the valve element between the fully open and fully closed positions at a switching frequency by using a pulse-width-modulation (PWM) signal to regulate a time-averaged flow of the gas.

Switched nozzle valve

The teachings herein comprise a method and apparatus for determining the position of a rotor by applying a voltage across a pair of phases of a motor and using a voltage measurement responsive to the applied voltage and indicative of the distribution of the phase inductances within the phase pair to which a test voltage is applied to determine the rotor position.

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Duncansville, PA, United States of America

Todd D Batzel