A bi-stable solenoid includes a housing, a wire coil, a permanent magnet, an armature, a pin, and a spring. The wire coil is arranged within the housing. The armature is slidably arranged within the housing and is moveable between a first armature position and a second armature position. The pin at least partially extends out of the housing and is slidably engaged by the armature. The spring is biased between the armature and the pin. When the pin encounters an intermediate position between a retracted position and an extended position due to the pin engaging an obstruction, the spring is configured to maintain a biasing force on the pin until the obstruction is removed.

An electromagnetic linear actuator is provided having a housing having a casing section and an end piece, a coil arrangement having two coils which extend about a common axis, are wound in opposite directions and are offset axially from one another, an armature arrangement mounted displacably in the housing along the axis, and a shaft, which passes through the end piece. A magnet arrangement at the end of the shaft has an axially magnetized permanent magnet and two disc-shaped flux conducting pieces are arranged on a front side. The first coil which faces away from the free end of the shaft has a region with a reduced internal diameter. A core of a magnetically active material is held in the coil. In each end positions of the armature arrangement, at least 50% of the axial length of the magnet arrangement is overlapped by one of the coils.

An electromagnetic linear actuator is provided having a housing having a casing section and an end piece, a coil arrangement having two coils which extend about a common axis, are wound in opposite directions and are offset axially from one another, an armature arrangement mounted displacably in the housing along the axis, and a shaft, which passes through the end piece. A magnet arrangement at the end of the shaft has an axially magnetized permanent magnet and two disc-shaped flux conducting pieces are arranged on a front side. The first coil which faces away from the free end of the shaft has a region with a reduced internal diameter. A core of a magnetically active material is held in the coil. In each end positions of the armature arrangement, at least 50% of the axial length of the magnet arrangement is overlapped by one of the coils.

Systems and methods are disclosed herein that may be implemented to configure, provide and operate retractable key assemblies and/or key assemblies that present a variable key assembly depression force to a user. In one example, key assemblies may be provided that each employ one or more electro-permanent magnets (EPMs) together with permanent magnet and/or magnetically permeable (e.g., ferromagnetic) key assembly components to control key retraction and extension, and/or to control peak depression force (e.g., typing force) required to depress and displace a key assembly from an extended position to a lower position that causes the key assembly to produce a digital or analog output signal.

Systems and methods are disclosed herein that may be implemented to configure, provide and operate retractable key assemblies and/or key assemblies that present a variable key assembly depression force to a user. In one example, key assemblies may be provided that each employ one or more electro-permanent magnets (EPMs) together with permanent magnet and/or magnetically permeable (e.g., ferromagnetic) key assembly components to control key retraction and extension, and/or to control peak depression force (e.g., typing force) required to depress and displace a key assembly from an extended position to a lower position that causes the key assembly to produce a digital or analog output signal.

The magnetic resistance of a magnetic path that passes through a coil (6) is increased by magnetically dividing a stator core into a plurality of divided cores (4, 5) in such a manner that the magnetic flux of a permanent magnet (7) flows through the magnetic path when a projection (82) of a plunger (8) magnetically connects the divided cores (4, 5), hence the magnetic resistance of the magnetic path that passes through the coil (6) rapidly changes due to a positional relationship between a gap between the divided cores (4, 5) and the plunger (8), and the magnetic flux that flows through the magnetic path rapidly changes, and moreover a large back electromotive force is produced.

The magnetic resistance of a magnetic path that passes through a coil (6) is increased by magnetically dividing a stator core into a plurality of divided cores (4, 5) in such a manner that the magnetic flux of a permanent magnet (7) flows through the magnetic path when a projection (82) of a plunger (8) magnetically connects the divided cores (4, 5), hence the magnetic resistance of the magnetic path that passes through the coil (6) rapidly changes due to a positional relationship between a gap between the divided cores (4, 5) and the plunger (8), and the magnetic flux that flows through the magnetic path rapidly changes, and moreover a large back electromotive force is produced.

On-platform pumps provide greater flexibility and design freedom and are a key feature of organs-on-chip platforms. On-platform electromagnetic (EM) pumps have been developed for use with the organ-on-chip platforms. The EM pump uses electrical energy, which may be supplied by a battery, making the pump portable. The EM pump uses an EM actuator having a low energy consumption. The actuator's low energy consumption is achieved by a latching design which requires only a short pulse of energy to switch its state and where springs store some of the actuator kinetic energy, which is then recovered in the reverse stroke. This further reduces the energy consumption of the actuator. Also provided are injection-molded, single-use platforms with onboard diaphragm micro-pumps and various valve and pump geometries. The EM actuators easily integrate with these platforms, demonstrating pumping at a constant flowrate, no measurable temperature rise, and valve sealing against varying back-pressure.

An electric element includes a substrate including a resin layer and a first conductive body, and a magnet. The substrate includes a first principal surface facing the magnet. The first conductive body includes a coil portion having a winding axis orthogonal to the first principal surface and located on a side closest to the first principal surface. The coil portion includes a continuous coil conductor including a first coil surface facing the first principal surface and a second coil surface opposite to the first coil surface. The coil conductor has a non-uniform thickness in a winding axis direction varying a distance between the first and second coil surfaces, and a difference of maximum and minimum values of distance between the first coil surface and the first principal surface is smaller than a difference of maximum and minimum values of distance between the second coil surface and the first principal surface.

The positioner having an air circuit including magnetism generating portions producing magnetism based on a current in accordance with a difference between a valve opening setpoint of a regulator valve and a measured value for the valve opening, to generate a pneumatic signal wherein the air pressure is adjusted based on the magnetism produced by the magnetism generating portions, where this pneumatic signal is supplied to an operating device of the regulator valve, where the magnetism generating portions are connected in parallel, and including a plurality of coils connected through magnetically additive coupling.