Patent ID: 7486041

Claim:
A single coil, single phase, direct current permanent magnet brushless motor, comprising: a rotor with a plurality of permanent magnets; a single coil; a stator with a plurality of salient poles, with each pole being formed by winding the single coil in a direction opposite to an adjacent pole to form a series of alternating poles wound in different directions; a sensor to sense a position of the rotor relative to the stator; a commutation module to commutate the motor; a current sample module programmed to sample a current through the single coil of the motor at least two times during a single commutation cycle; and a waveform shape module programmed to compare sampled currents to estimate a current waveform characteristic through the single coil; wherein the commutation module is programmed to adjust timing of a commutation of the motor based upon the current waveform characteristic to adjust advance or delay the commutation.