A device and a method are provided for determining a stroke of an armature of a magnetic valve which has a coil and the armature is displaceable by magnetic force, including: providing at least one reference data set which includes a magnitude of a current through the coil and a magnitude of the magnetic flux in the case of a known magnitude of the stroke; generating a current flow through the coil of the magnetic valve in order to generate a magnetic field for generating a magnetic force on the armature, which magnetic force displaces the armature in the direction for the opening of a closure element coupled to the armature; determining a magnitude of the magnetic flux when the armature abuts against a driver of the closure element; and determining the magnitude of the stroke based upon the determined magnitude of the magnetic flux and the reference data set.

A metering valve comprising a solenoid having: a coil mounted on a core; and an armature moveable axially with respect to the core and against a return bias in response to a current in the coil; a variable capacitor having a first plate mounted for movement with the armature and a second plate fixed with respect to the core. The metering valve comprises an electronic feedback loop which is used to adjust the current in the coil based on a feedback signal derived from of the capacitance of the variable capacitor. A reference capacitor may be provided having opposing third and fourth plates at a set separation. A valve body may house the solenoid, the variable capacitor and the reference capacitor.

At least two pairs of magnets are arranged near one another on supports, the pairs of magnets and the supports form, when an item to be stabilized is in a required angular position, a closed magnetic circuit (except for the air gap), with magnets placed in such a direction that their north and south poles successively alternate with one another along the magnetic circuit, an item, sensitive to the magnetic field, is attached to the fixed part and placed inside the closed magnetic circuit, the sensitive item supplies a logic output state corresponding to the item to be stabilized in the required angular position when the detected field is less than a predetermined maximum threshold, and a logic state corresponding to the item to be stabilized not in the required angular position, when the detected field is greater than a minimum predetermined threshold.

The present invention relates to a method and system for determining the position of the armature of a solenoid using a controller to determine the temperature of the solenoid and to indirectly determine the position of the armature without the need of an additional sensor using current sensing pulses and a solenoid capable of staying engaged due to residual magnetism after the coil has been de-energized.

A method for determining a switching state of a valve, an inductance variable being determined on the basis of current and voltage measurements and the switching state being determined on the basis of the inductance variable. Also disclosed is a solenoid valve assembly for carrying out such a method.

A method for determining a switching state of a valve that is actuated by a coil, wherein the method includes: respectively ascertaining a current flowing through the coil and a voltage applied to the coil at several times which follow one another with a prespecified time interval, calculating an inductance variable of the coil based on the currents, the voltage and the time interval, and determining the switching state based on the inductance variable. Also disclosed is a solenoid valve assembly.

A system may include an electromagnetic actuator, a first coil configured to drive mechanical displacement of the electromagnetic actuator, a second coil configured to drive mechanical displacement of the electromagnetic actuator, and an inductance sensing subsystem having an inductance sensing path coupled to the first coil and the second coil. The inductance sensing subsystem may be configured to select one of the first coil and the second coil for driving mechanical displacement of the electromagnetic actuator, select the other of the first coil and the second coil as a sensing coil for sensing displacement of the electromagnetic actuator, determine a displacement of the electromagnetic actuator based on a measurement of estimated inductance of the sensing coil, and when switching selection of the sensing coil from the first coil to the second coil determine the displacement of the first coil based on a measured inductance of the first coil at approximately the time of switching selection, estimate state variables of the inductance sensing path to be used with the second coil based on the displacement, and apply the state variables to the inductance sensing path after switching selection of the sensing coil from the first coil to the second coil.

An event monitoring solenoid, system, and method are provided. Such a solenoid includes a housing with a coil acting upon an armature of the solenoid. The solenoid also includes an event monitoring module situated locally within the solenoid. The event monitoring module is operable to monitor one or more operational states of the solenoid. The event monitoring module is also operable to wirelessly transmit information relating to these one or more operational states to a remote user application. A system constructed in accordance with this invention includes the solenoid, a device connected to the solenoid, and the remote user application.

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.

A bistable solenoid valve device for a fluid system includes a bistable solenoid valve and a detection device. The bistable solenoid valve has a permanent magnet yoke, an armature configured to be displaced between a first armature position for contact against a first core to form an air gap with a second core and a second armature position for contact against the second core to form an air gap with the first core. The bistable solenoid valve device further includes a detection device configured to evaluate and/or measure a first inductance of the first armature coil, and evaluate and/or measure a second inductance of the second armature coil without displacement of the armature, to compare the inductance of the first armature coil and the inductance of the second armature coil, and to output a state signal that indicates the armature position.