Patent ID: 7692398

Claim:
A method of operating an actuator (ACT) intended to be linked to a phase conductor (AC-H) and a neutral conductor (AC-N) of an alternating current voltage source, the actuator comprising: a single-phase induction motor (MOT) provided with two windings (W 1 , W 2 ) linked by one end (N 0 ), a permanent capacitor (CM) disposed between each of the other ends of the windings, and the terminals of which form a first phase terminal (P 1 ) and a second phase terminal (P 2 ), the phase conductor being connected to the first phase terminal to control the rotation of the motor in a first direction (DIR 1 ) and to the second phase terminal to control the rotation of the motor in a second direction (DIR 2 ), a switch (TR) controlled by an electronic control unit (CPU) to link the common end (N 0 ) of the windings to the neutral conductor, at least one pair of diodes (D 1 , D 2 , D 3 , D 4 ), the diodes of one and the same pair being connected by an electrode of the same type to a circuit that is at least resistive (RA, RC; RA, RB, RC; RA, RB, RC, DZ 1 , DZ 2 ) connected to the neutral conductor, the other electrode of each diode being respectively linked to the first phase terminal and to the second phase terminal, and means (CS 1 , CS 2 ) of detecting the state of conduction of each of the two diodes linked to the electronic control unit, wherein the switch is controlled by the state of the diodes, the method including a step for analyzing the state of conduction of the diodes to determine the state of the actuator and/or the nature of a control command and/or the amplitude of the voltage from the source and/or the amplitude of the voltage from the permanent capacitor and/or a signal driving the controlled switch.