Patent ID: 6844692
Filing Date: 2005-01-18
Classification: B60H,B60L,H02K,Y02T

Abstract:
1. A climate control system including at least one air passage and at least one damper for regulating flow of air through said at least one air passage, said climate control system further comprising: an electric motor coupled to said damper for changing the position of the damper; a control module including a hand-manipulated hand control element for setting a desired damper position for said at least one damper and a control head for generating electrical power signals for driving said electric motor to move said damper to said desired damper position; wherein said electric motor comprises a motor housing enclosing therein: a stator, a rotor inside said stator, a motor shaft attached to said rotor, a commutator ring mounted on said motor shaft, power brushes mounted on said housing and wiping said commutator ring for feeding electric power to said motor for driving said rotor, an encoder ring mounted on said motor shaft having a plurality of encoder segments separated from one another about the motor shaft, and encoder brushes mounted on said housing and wiping said encoder ring for forming an encoder circuit through said encoder segments with said encoder segments closing and opening said encoder circuit upon rotation of said motor shaft; said electric motor further including power and encoder terminals positioned externally of said motor housing, at least one power terminal being electrically coupled to one of said power brushes and at least one encoder terminal being electrically coupled to one of said encoder brushes; wherein said control head is coupled to said at least one power terminal for applying said electrical power signals to said electric motor for moving said damper and to said at least one encoder terminal for monitoring the impedance of said encoder circuit to thereby determine when the damper is in said desired damper position.