Patent Publication Number: US-10774696-B2

Title: Highly efficient linear motor

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority from U.S. Patent Application 62/634,592, entitled “Highly Efficient Linear Motor” and filed on 23 Feb. 2018, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     The present invention relates generally to linear motors and control systems therefor for various applications. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Many types of linear motors are currently made for many different applications. There are two basic types of linear motors, circular and flat. Circular motors include, voice coil motors, voice coil actuators, and linear motors—sometimes called tubular motors, and are generally used for high force, small distance motors. Circular motors generally use a central member that would be an armature in a rotary motor and an outer member that surrounds the central member and would be a field in a rotary motor. The armature of the rotary motor is the thruster in a linear motor and the field of the rotary motor is the forcer. Flat linear motors are linear motors that are laid out flat, with coils and magnets alongside each other, with linear bearings that constrain the moving member and are generally used for intermediate distance movement. This flat type of linear motor can include electromagnets on both the moving and stationary side, as recited in published US Patent Application 2017/0047821 A1. Flat linear motors include linear induction motors, which are well known with the widest use in mass transit trains over long distances, sometimes with magnetic levitation. These have been known for quite a while as evidenced by U.S. Pat. No. 782,312 which was granted on Feb. 14, 1905 for a magnetic levitation application. Linear synchronous motors are also used for mass transit trains and may use electro magnets for both the fixed magnet and the moving magnet with both driven by multi-phase synchronized electronic drive systems. 
     Today&#39;s linear motors utilized for rapid movements from fractional distances to several inches, generally use one or more coils, one or more permanent magnets and a control system that delivers power to the coil(s) to control movement of the linear motor. Current efforts to improve the power and electrical efficiency of small distance, high speed, linear motors has involved the use of more and more powerful permanent magnets, typically using rare earths such as neodymium. These rare earth permanent magnets are quite strong but very expensive and if subjected to heat, see decreases in their strength proportional to the increased heat, as do all permanent magnets. The decrease in strength at elevated temperature hampers the use of linear motors in some applications, such as in internal combustion engines (ICEs). The decrease in magnetic strength with elevated temperature varies from magnet to magnet, additionally decreasing with increasing temperature at slightly varying rates from magnet to magnet, resulting in a change that cannot be compensated for by standard equations. 
     Due to the deficiencies of these prior attempts, there remains the need to provide an efficient linear motor that can operate at elevated temperatures. The improved linear motor presented here can serve in many applications while subject to elevated temperatures, including in actuation systems for the poppet valves of an ICE that reduce cost, weight and complexity, while providing for fully independent control of the valve actuation parameters. 
     SUMMARY 
     An electrical system including a linear motor in which energized forcer and thruster coils are used for the field and armature elements, respectively. In accordance with various exemplary embodiments, one or more thruster coils may be provided on a reciprocating shaft with opposing single or multiple fixed forcer coils. Using coils as the electromagnets for both forcer and thruster coils advantageously provides necessary power while also minimizing system weight and decreases in magnetism typically encountered with permanent magnets with rising temperature, resulting in higher and more controllable magnetic forces over varying temperatures. A ferrous system housing and open ferrous containers for the thruster coils may be further included to advantageously focus the magnetic forces. Additionally, multiple forcer and thruster coils may be disposed in various arrangements along the reciprocating shaft. Exemplary applications include use of such a system for controlling oscillations of a poppet valve in an internal combustion engine. 
     In accordance with exemplary embodiments, a linear motor includes: 
     a housing including a longitudinal axis and defining an interior region terminated at opposing first and second housing ends that include first and second housing apertures disposed coaxially with the longitudinal axis; 
     a shaft disposed coaxially with and movably along the longitudinal axis and including opposing first and second shaft ends extending through the first and second housing apertures; 
     a first forcer coil disposed coaxially with the shaft and affixed within the interior region proximate to the first housing end; and 
     a first thruster coil disposed coaxially with and affixed to the shaft between the first and second shaft ends. 
     In accordance with further exemplary embodiments, at least one linear motor includes: 
     a ferrous housing including a longitudinal axis and defining an interior region terminated at opposing first and second housing ends that include first and second housing apertures disposed coaxially with the longitudinal axis; 
     a shaft disposed coaxially with and movably along the longitudinal axis and including opposing first and second shaft ends extending through the first and second housing apertures; 
     a first forcer coil disposed coaxially with the shaft and affixed within the interior region proximate to the first housing end; 
     a second forcer coil disposed coaxially with the shaft and affixed within the interior region proximate to the second housing end; 
     a first thruster coil disposed coaxially with and affixed to the shaft between the first and second shaft ends; 
     a second thruster coil disposed coaxially with and affixed to the shaft proximate to the first thruster coil; 
     a first open ferrous container that is disposed coaxially with the shaft and circumferentially about the first thruster coil, and is open toward the first forcer coil; 
     a second open ferrous container that is disposed coaxially with the shaft and circumferentially about the second thruster coil, and is open toward the second forcer coil; 
     at least one electrical power source; and 
     a power controller electrically coupled between the at least one electrical power source and the first and second forcer coils and the first and second thruster coils, and including memory and one or more processors configured to store and execute a plurality of instructions that when executed cause electrical power to be applied to the first and second forcer coils and the first and second thruster coils such that the shaft
         is urged to move toward the first housing end to a first longitudinal location, and   is caused to remain stationary at the first longitudinal location during a time interval.       

     In accordance with further exemplary embodiments, a method for driving a linear motor includes: 
     applying, to a first forcer coil that is disposed coaxially with and stationary relative to a reciprocating shaft, a first voltage having one of first mutually opposing polarities and inducing a first forcer magnetic field; and 
     applying, to a first thruster coil that is disposed coaxially with and affixed to the reciprocating shaft, a second voltage having one of second mutually opposing polarities and inducing a first thruster magnetic field; 
     wherein
         responsive to applying the first and second voltages having a combination of the first and second mutually opposing polarities, the first forcer and thruster magnetic fields are mutually attractive and urge the reciprocating shaft to move the first thruster coil toward the first forcer coil, and   responsive to applying the first and second voltages having a different combination of the first and second mutually opposing polarities, the first forcer and thruster magnetic fields are mutually repellant and urge the reciprocating shaft to move the first thruster coil away from the first forcer coil.       

    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a cross sectional side view of a linear motor in accordance with exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG. 1A  is a cross sectional side view of a second linear motor in accordance with exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG. 2  is a cross sectional side view of a third linear motor in accordance with exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG. 2A  is a cross sectional side view of a fourth linear motor in accordance with exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG. 3  is a cross sectional side view of an internal combustion engine valve connected to a linear motor in accordance with exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG. 3A  depicts relationships between direct current (DC) flow and polarities of resulting magnetic fields. 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram of the components of a linear motor controller in accordance with exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram of components of a controller for an internal combustion engine with valves operated by linear motors in accordance with exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG. 6  is a block diagram of an engine start and stop sequence in accordance with exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG. 7  is a block diagram of a valve opening and closing sequence in accordance with exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG. 8  is a block diagram of a valve operation in an engine in an automobile in accordance with exemplary embodiments. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     As discussed in more detail below, deficiencies discussed above are addressed by providing for an improved linear motor and method of operation that have many applications, including a system for actuating valves in an ICE using such a linear motor to variably control the movement of a valve with a high degree of accuracy and speed. Linear motors will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to include voice coil motors with fixed coils, moving coils, fixed magnets and moving magnets, single and multiple coils, single and multiple magnets, linear motors—sometimes called linear actuators, using multiple coils and multiple magnets and other types of linear motors, and linear motors that include sets of coils and/or magnets laid out linearly next to each other. The moving magnetic part in a linear motor is referred to as the thruster and the fixed magnetic part is referred to as the forcer. 
     In the following descriptions, the present invention will be explained with reference to various example embodiments; nevertheless, these embodiments are not intended to limit the present invention to any specific example, environment, application, or particular implementation described herein. Therefore, descriptions of these example embodiments are only provided for purpose of illustration rather than to limit the present invention. The linear motor of the present invention can be configured to operate in many different applications, including controlling the valves of an internal combustion engine (ICE). This linear motor has far more power and controllability than previous linear motors and can operate in many applications that previously required gear motors or other forms of torque multiplier actuators. 
     The linear motor of the present invention has tremendous advantages over gear motors and other torque multiplier mechanisms because the linear motor has no backlash and needs no gear drives that can break or strip due to wear and overstress or require occasional lubrication. When the linear motor of the present invention is overstressed it will simply hold steady—or even be pushed in one direction or the other, but if properly electrically controlled and protected, will resume control after the overstress is removed—without any damage to the linear motor or loss of ability to control the apparatus. The higher power of the present invention linear motor allows its use in higher speed and higher power applications with greater accuracy to ideal performance. The present invention linear motor can be driven by a dedicated Electronic Control Unit (ECU) that contains the rules, algorithms and/or look-up tables of the application, by an overall controller which controls other aspects of the application, or by any combination of these needed to provide complex motion control for a wide range of applications. 
     The acts, modules, logic and method steps discussed herein below, according to certain embodiments of the present invention, may take the form of a computer program or software code stored in a tangible machine-readable medium (or memory) in communication with a control unit, comprising a processor and memory, which executes the code to perform the described behavior, function, features and methods. It will be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art that these operations, structural devices, acts, logic, method steps and modules may be implemented in software, in firmware, in special purpose digital logic, and any combination thereof without deviating from the spirit and scope of the present invention as recited within the claims attached hereto. 
     When used in an ICE, operating according to Otto, Diesel or some variant of these cycles (e.g. Miller or Atkinson), the timing, lift, duration, and speed of the individual valves in the ICE can be adjusted independently from the crankshaft rotational speed and each valve independently from the actuation of any of the other valves. Thus, for example, an engine with dual intake and/or dual exhaust valves for each cylinder can have each member of the pair of valves open and close with different timing, duration, lift, and speed—or even not operate—to achieve desired engine performance throughout the entire operational speed and load range of the engine. The valve opening and closing speed can be increased as the engine speed and lift increase to maintain performance accuracy and valve opening/closing operations can also be controllably dampened to enhance reliability. The assembly and system are simple, lightweight and low cost compared to prior attempts at improved valve actuation systems, as discussed herein. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a diagram is provided to illustrate the components of the present invention linear motor  100  according to exemplary embodiments. The central shaft  101  of the linear motor may be made of non-ferrous material, have a thruster coil  102  fixedly attached to it and reciprocate through apertures  104 A in opposing ends of a housing  104 , a fixed upper forcer coil  103  and a fixed lower forcer coil  109 . The housing  104  is preferably made of ferrous material to guide (e.g., focus or confine) magnetic fields produced by the upper  103  and a lower  109  forcer coils within the interior of the housing  104 . The thruster coil  102  may be a single coil that is circumferentially shrouded with a ferrous sleeve  102 A (to guide the magnetic field produced by the thruster coil  102  within the interior of the housing  104 ) with an air gap  102 F between the exterior of the ferrous sleeve  102 A and the interior surface of the housing  104 . The upper  103  and lower  109  forcer coils are shown as single coils for simplicity but may each be implemented using multiple coils that may be driven independently of each other. Bearings or bushings may be affixed within the housing apertures  104 A to center and align the central shaft  101  but are omitted here for clarity. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1A , alternative exemplary embodiments of a linear motor  100  may include a thruster coil embodied as two coils  102 B,  102 C, with each in a respective ferrous cup  102 D,  102 E, with the cup openings facing away from each other, and each facing toward the nearest forcer coil  103 ,  109 , with the thruster coils  102 B,  102 C and cups  102 D,  102 E fixedly attached to the central shaft  101  and with the thruster coils  102 B,  102 C wound such that they may be electrically connected in parallel so as to attract each other when energized. Bearings or bushings may be affixed to the housing apertures  104 A to center and align the central shaft  101  but are omitted for clarity. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , further alternative exemplary embodiments may include additional stationary forcer coils  106 ,  108  fixed to the housing  104  and additional thruster coils  105 ,  107  fixedly attached to the central shaft  101  to hold the linear motor  100  at either of the two fully extended positions, referred to as “open” and “closed” for differentiation. For example, the upper forcer coil  106  and thruster coil  105  can hold the central shaft  101  in the upper, or closed, position, while the lower forcer coil  108  and thruster coil  107  can hold the central shaft  101  in the lower, or open, position. These additional hold-open  108 ,  107  or hold-closed  106 ,  105  coil sets need not have the power of the primary forcer coils  103 ,  109  and thruster coil(s)  102 , since they are intended to softly and precisely place the central shaft  101  in the selected end position (e.g., open or closed) and hold it there with minimal power. The words open and closed are used here only to differentiate maximum movement of the linear motor armature in one direction from maximum movement in the other direction and have no other meaning. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2A , further alternative exemplary embodiments may include back-to-back thruster coils  102 B,  102 C and cups  102 D,  102 E as discussed above for  FIG. 1A . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , further alternative exemplary embodiments may include connection to the valve stem of an ICE. Alternatively, such embodiments may be built around the valve stem of an ICE. For example, the linear motor  100  of  FIG. 1, 1A, 2 or 2A  may be attached to an outer housing  110  which is itself attached to the ICE head  116 , with the central shaft  101  of the linear motor  100  affixed via a coupling  111  to the valve stem  112  of the ICE to oscillate the valve head  114  from closed on the valve seat  115  in the ICE head  116  to fully open and all positions in between. A serviceable valve guide  113  may be fixed in the ICE head  116  to precisely position the ICE valve stem  112 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3A , in accordance with well-known scientific principles, magnetic fields may be generated at will. More particularly, for purposes of present exemplary embodiments, each forcer and thruster coil may be implemented as a coil C of multiple loops of an electrical conductor (e.g., insulated strands of metal wire) across which a DC voltage V is applied to produce a DC current I flow through the coil. (The coil C here is depicted as a single loop for simplicity, but it will be readily appreciated that for producing stronger magnetic fields in practical applications multiple loops will be used.) This current I, in turn, produces a magnetic field having opposing north N and south S magnetic poles. As depicted here, switching the polarity of the applied voltage V at the two terminals T 1 , T 2  of the coil C causes a switch in the direction of 3 current I flow through the coil C, which, in turn, causes a switch in the direction of the north N and south S magnetic poles. As discussed below, these principles are used advantageously by energizing the various forcer and thruster coils such that opposite poles (north N and south S) face each other when it is desired to create an attracting force to draw the coils together, and like poles (north N and north N, or south S and south S) face each other when it is desired to create a repelling force to cause the coils to repel one another. 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , in accordance with exemplary embodiments, a linear motor as discussed herein may be applied to an ICE that uses an application control unit (ACU)  117  to control movement of the valve, with inputs to the ACU  117  from an overall control unit (OCU)  121  for the system in which the ICE is installed, e.g. an automobile, generator, truck, etc. In this application the linear motor shaft may be fixedly connected to the ICE valve shaft or the linear motor may be built around the valve stem. The data collected by the application sensor  119 , may include without limitation, crankshaft position, engine speed, accelerator position and/or throttle command in a non-vehicular application, and input from the OCU  120  that may contain algorithms for the application and receive data from other sensors particular to the application, e.g., unless they are connected directly to the input interface module  118 . The ACU  117  determines inputs from the application sensors  119  and OCU  121 , when and how to drive the upper forcer coils  103 , lower forcer coils  109  and thruster coil(s)  102 , including appropriate voltages, polarities and durations. The additional coil sets shown in  FIG. 2  (upper forcer  106  and thruster  105  coil, and lower forcer  108  and thruster  107  coil) may or may not be used in any given application. These additional coil sets, if used, may be driven by independent power supplies (not shown) controlled by the ACU  117 . The ACU  117  may also send information from the Application Sensors  119  back to the OCU  121 , depending on the application. The OCU  121  controls fuel and ignition for the ICE in this example. As noted above, the ACU  117  selectively energizes the coil assemblies  102 ,  103 ,  109  to cause the linear motor shaft  101  to move to a specific position at a specific time, with a specific speed and acceleration. Each of these parameters may be controlled independently for each valve and can also be altered during a single stroke and from one stroke to the next. 
     For example, the linear motor shaft  101  may be controllably slowed down (decelerated) just before the valve head  114  makes contact with the valve seat  115  so that it does not slam into the seat  115  with excessive force, which would be inefficient and potentially damaging to the valve. This cushioning effect may extend the life of the engine compared to conventional valve assemblies that do not dampen such valve movement. Also, such dampening can be achieved without need for additional springs or other mechanical devices, thereby minimizing complexity and overall cost of the valve train. 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , in accordance with exemplary embodiments, a linear motor as discussed herein may be applied to the valves of an ICE of a motor vehicle controlled by an engine control unit (ECU)  125 , and connected to the bus network  127  of the vehicle. The ECU  125 , which may include functionality of the ACU  117  and OCU  121  ( FIG. 4 ), may receive sensor data  126  directly from the ICE and vehicle data from the application sensors  119  for the vehicle through the bus network  127 , enabling the ECU  125  to control the ICE valve movements, fuel injection and ignition for desired performance. The motor vehicle may be an automobile, bus, truck, motorcycle, off-road vehicle such as tractor or all terrain vehicle, boat or aircraft. The ICE shown has one input valve and one exhaust valve, but multiple input and/or exhaust valves may be operated with the same control functions. 
     Referring to  FIG. 6 , in accordance with exemplary embodiments, software program logic may be applied for a linear valve actuator system as discussed herein. This can be used by a manufacturer to alter vehicle ICE operating parameters through a graphical user interface in operative communication with the control system during initial design and programming. A diagnostic application  200  is first initiated. The application may be rendered on a graphical user interface  202  for interaction with the user, e.g., by presenting a plurality of buttons and gauges to the user  204 , including start, throttle adjust and digital readouts of key operating parameters such as engine revolutions per minute (RPM). 
     A sensor hardware interface module  118  may be used, e.g., as depicted in  FIG. 4 , and connected to an appropriate processor and/or directly to the vehicle bus network  127  and from this bus to an appropriate processor. A sensor hardware interface module may collect the sensor data  126  and convert it to an appropriate format, if needed, for use by the processor when executing the program logic. Additional sensors from the vehicle or application may connect through the vehicle bus network  127 . 
     Upon starting the ICE, the start engine control app  200  is initiated, the application performance update is looped to display  204 , a firing sequence program  205  is launched in the application address space  208  and control schedules are retrieved from a shared memory hardware backplane  209  and the application address space processor(s) command the programmed valve operation, fuel delivery, ignition and engine crank to start. Turning the engine off causes the stop sequence  206  to be initiated, which directs the application address space to shut the engine down, and the application is terminated  207 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 7 , the logic of an open/close sequence in accordance with exemplary embodiments may be applied to control movement of a valve in an ICE. This logic may be duplicated for each of the valves in a multi-valve implementation so that each valve can be controlled individually. The valve timing sequence data is read  300  and inputted into a closed control loop  302 . The control loop may include commands to open the valve to a prescribed length or height  304  (often referred to as “lift”) and a command to close the valve  306  after a predetermined duration. If the open valve command  304  is given to the linear motor, the open sequence  308  is followed by the linear motor. If the close valve command  306  is given to the linear motor, the close sequence  310  is followed by the linear motor. 
     In one example, in the open sequence  308 , the controller energizes the coils with first controlled voltages to accelerate the valve toward a predetermined open position at a first rate of acceleration  314 . At a predetermined point of travel, the controller energizes the forcer coils with second voltages having polarities opposing those of the first controlled voltages to cause the valve to decelerate to zero at a position near the predetermined open position. The controller then energizes the forcer coils with third voltages to hold the valve in the predetermined open position (“lift”) for a predetermined duration. In the close sequence  310 , the controller energizes the forcer coils with fourth controlled voltages to accelerate the valve toward the closed position at a second rate of acceleration  320 . At a predetermined point of travel, the controller energizes the forcer coils with fifth voltages having polarities opposing those of the fourth controlled voltages to cause the valve to decelerate (e.g., to zero) at a position just above the valve seat  322 . The controller then energizes the forcer coils with sixth voltages to softly seat the valve against its seat and hold the valve in the seated position  324 . Alternatively, the soft seating step  324  can be eliminated and the deceleration step  322  can be used to fully seat the valve, at which time the forcer coil voltage polarities are switched to hold the valve in the closed position until an open command is received. 
     In accordance with exemplary embodiments, linear motor coils as discussed herein may be driven in different fashions to achieve desired actions. For example, in accordance with exemplary embodiments as depicted in  FIG. 1 , for an upward movement of the central shaft  101 , the upper forcer coil  103  can be driven to attract the central shaft thruster coil  102 . For greater power in this upward movement, the lower forcer coil  109  can be driven at the same time to repel the central shaft thruster coil  102 . The voltages on all three coils can be varied in polarity and magnitude to precisely manage the rate of movement of the central shaft  101 , the distance it moves and then to stop the upward movement and hold the central shaft  101  in an exact desired position. To increase the power applied, the central shaft thruster coil  102  may be implemented as multiple coils  102 B,  102 C ( FIG. 1A ) that may be driven together or separately to repel and attract the upper forcer coil  103  and lower forcer coil  109 . In accordance with exemplary embodiments as depicted in  FIG. 2 , the additional hold open coils  107 ,  108 , and hold closed coils  105 ,  106 , may be energized as the central shaft  101  nears the fully open or fully closed positions, as the forcer coils  103 ,  109  and thruster coil(s)  102  are de-energized, to slow, softly stop and hold the central shaft  101  in the fully open or fully closed position. The terms “open” and “closed” are used only to denote full movement of the linear motor in alternate directions and have no other meaning here. 
     For example, in the open sequence  308 , the computer or controller may energize the forcer coils with independent first forcer voltages and the thruster coil(s) with independent first thruster voltages to cause the valve (head to move in a direction away from the valve seat  312 . The valve thus accelerates at an initial rate  314 . At a predetermined point of travel, the computer or controller may energize the forcer coils with independent second voltages having opposite polarities  316  to cause deceleration of the valve until the valve stops at a predetermined open position (stroke). The controller or computer may then energize the forcer coils with third independent voltages to hold the valve in place until receiving a close signal  310 . In this example, a linear motor as depicted in  FIG. 2  may start with the central shaft in the maximum raised direction (closed) and would open by moving down in response to the energizing voltage(s). For example, this may be done by energizing the thruster coil  102  with a first independent voltage creating a first magnetic polarity in the thruster coil, while energizing the upper forcer coil  103  with its first independent voltage to its first magnetic polarity which is the same as the thruster&#39;s first polarity, thereby creating an opposing magnetic force between the fixed upper forcer coil and the thruster coil attached to the moving central shaft, and at the same time energizing the lower forcer coil  109  with a first independent voltage to a first magnetic polarity which is the opposite of the thruster&#39;s first polarity, thereby creating an attractive magnetic force between the stationary lower forcer coil and the thruster coil attached to the moving central shaft. As the central shaft nears the desired travel distance (stroke), the individual first voltages on the upper and lower forcer coils may be reversed to independent second voltages to slow and stop the central shaft, at which point the voltages on the forcer coils and thruster coils may be changed again to individual third voltages, as determined by the predetermined position of the thruster and central shaft, to hold the central shaft in place for the desired duration. At the end of the open duration, the coils may be energized with individual fourth voltages so that the upper forcer coil attracts the thruster coil in an upward direction and the lower forcer coil repels the thruster coil, then reversing the forcer coil voltages to individual fifth voltages to slow the central shaft near the fully up position, and finally energizing the forcer coils with individual sixth voltages to softly seat the valve and hold it in the closed position. Alternatively, if the linear motor is fitted with holding coils, the forcer coils  103  and  109  and thruster coil  102  may be de-energized and the holding coils  105 ,  106  individually energized with individual first voltages to softly pull the central shaft into the fully up position and then energized to individual second voltages to hold it there by individually energizing the coils to create opposite magnetic polarities in the coils and by varying the voltage on the coils to adjust the attractive magnetic forces as the central shaft first softly moves to the closed position and then holds in that closed position. A linear motor as described herein may move any distance from very fractionally to the maximum stroke, then hold in that open position and then return to the original position, as commanded by the control system for the given application. 
     All comments above include single or multiple forcer coils, single or multiple thruster coils and hold-open and/or hold closed coil sets, if used. 
     Referring to  FIG. 8 , in accordance with further exemplary embodiments, a linear motor as discussed herein may be applied to the valves of an ICE and portions of the valve actuation process flow from the perspective of several components of an ICE management system, including the valve timing sequence program of the computer, the coil actuators, the sensors, memory and the engine efficiency module (which may be software stored in memory of the computer). The timing sequence program includes the previously-described steps of reading the timing sequence data  300 , entering the closed loop sequence  302  to command the valve to open  304 , as well as commanding the valve to close  306 . The coil actuator logic operation includes the previously-described steps of the open sequence  308 , holding the valve open  318 , the close sequence  310  and holding the valve closed  324 . 
     As the ICE operates, the plurality of sensors  326  (examples include: throttle position, engine speed (RPM), engine coolant temperature, exhaust gas oxygen level, intake airflow meter, knock sensors, barometric pressure sensors, clutch position sensor, transmission gear sensor, vehicle load, etc.) send their respective data to the sensor memory area  328  of the memory module  330  of the computer. The firing sequence data  332  is also stored in memory  330 . 
     An engine efficiency module  334  or logic is also included in the computer or as part of a stand-alone module. This module can be formed as executable software code programmed in non-transitive memory that can be read and executed by a processor included in the computer. The engine efficiency module  334  includes the steps of reading from memory  336  some or all of the sensor data and the firing sequence data. Patterns in the retrieved data are identified and the firing sequence data are updated in the memory area  332  according to the data retrieval and pattern match step  336 . The module  334  then ends  340  until woken up  342  periodically. The periodic wakeup signal can be provided by a timer responding to a set time period (e.g., several times per second) or every several revolutions of the crankshaft or every several clock cycles of the computer&#39;s processor. The system and logic described above provides for the control device that dynamically adjusts the timing and movement of the valves based upon a wide variety of operating conditions and variables. The engine efficiency module  334  may be continuously adjusted by the user of a motor vehicle, or by the application controller for a non-motor vehicle application, to maximize engine performance for economy, power, minimal emissions, or any combination of these as desired. 
     Using this system logic, valve position, velocity and acceleration of the central shaft can be varied both during a valve stroke and from one stroke to the next, as controlled by the logic programmed on a non-transitive memory of the electronic valve control computer. 
     While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred example embodiments, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed example embodiments. It will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many modifications and equivalent arrangements can be made thereof without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, such scope to be accorded the broadest interpretation of the appended claims so as to encompass all equivalent structures and products. 
     For purposes of interpreting the claims for the present invention, it is expressly intended that the provisions of Section 112, sixth paragraph of 35 U.S.C. are not to be invoked unless the specific terms “means for” or “step for” are recited in a claim.