Patent ID: 7135947
Filing Date: 2006-11-14
Classification: H01P

Abstract:
1. A hybrid switch actuator having six positions that are stable in the absence of current and in which displacement occurs between an initial position and a target position under the action of a current, for operation of a microwave switch, said actuator comprising: (a) a stator having six pole shoes, each pair of opposed pole shoes being associated with a common exciting coil; (b) a rotor package rotatable along a rotation axis and adapted to be positioned within said stator and having two pairs of rotor poles magnetized transversely in alternate directions, said rotor package including: (c) wherein the difference between the radius of the maximum radius regions and the radius of the reduced radius regions is substantially smaller than the radial dimensions of the rotor package; (d) such that when the actuator is in the initial position two diametrically opposed stator pole shoes having a first polarity are excited through their associated common exciting coil, said stator pole shoes attract two diametrically opposed rotor poles having an opposite polarity to said first polarity and repel the remaining two rotor poles, and the remaining two rotor poles are repelled from the stator pole shoes having a first polarity, and as the minimum radius regions adjacent to the maximum radius regions of the diametrically opposed rotor poles overlap the stator pole shoes having a first polarity, a reduction of the reluctance gap therebetween occurs and then as the maximum radius regions of the diametrically opposed rotor poles overlap the stator pole shoes having a first polarity a further reduction of the reluctance gap therebetween occurs until each rotor pole associated with a maximum radius region is aligned with a stator pole associated with a stator pole shoe of the actuator in the target position.