Patent ID: 7578481

Claim:
An apparatus for actuating valves comprising: at least one valve driver circuit for opening and closing a valve, the valve driver circuit comprising a power switch for providing both a pull-in current and a hold current to the valve in order to open the valve; and a controller capable of sending an output signal to the at least one valve driver circuit for directing the power switch of the at least one valve driver circuit to provide current to the valve, the controller further configured to be programmed with a plurality of parameters including valve resistance (R) and valve inductance (L), the controller also being configured to be reprogrammed with a respective one or more of the plurality of parameters when the respective one or more plurality of parameters have changed in value, the controller responsive to the same plurality of parameters, including valve resistance (R) and valve inductance (L), so as to define the output signal based thereupon for each of a plurality of cycles of opening and closing the valve, wherein the controller is configured to define the output signal in different manners to direct the power switch to provide the pull-in current and the hold current.