The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 27, 1992
Filed:
Feb. 27, 1990
Larry O Gray, Berkey, OH (US);
Dana Corporation, Toledo, OH (US);
Abstract
An electric clutch actuator includes a coil having first and second windings, a first end of the first winding being connected to a source of electrical power and a second end of the second winding being connected through a switch such as an FET (field effect transistor) to ground potential. The opposite ends of the windings are connected together through another FET switch to the ground potential. An actuation circuit is responsive to a control signal to turn on the FET switches and cause electrical current to flow primarily through the first winding. The actuation circuit includes a timing circuit which turns off the FET connected to the opposite ends of the windings after a predetermined period of time to cause electrical current from the power source to pass through both of the windings. In a second embodiment, a coil is connected in series with an FET switch to the power supply and the actuation circuit turns on the FET for a predetermined period of time to apply the full voltage of the power supply to the coil thereby rapidly actuating the electromagnetic clutch and then generates a pulsed wave form to alternately turn on and off the FET to hold the electromagnetic clutch in the actuated position.