Patent ID: 7679476

Claim:
A polarized electromagnetic relay comprising: a base; an electromagnet assembly fitted to said base, said electromagnet assembly comprising an electromagnet, an armature driven by said electromagnet, and a permanent magnet carried on said armature; a contact section fitted to said base and insulated from said electromagnet assembly; and a force transfer member disposed between said electromagnet assembly and said contact section, said force transfer member being shiftable under an action of said electromagnet assembly to make said contact section open or close; wherein said electromagnet includes a coil with a center axis, an iron core provided with a shaft portion disposed along said center axis of said coil and a head portion extending outside of said coil and radially outward from one axial end of said shaft portion, and a yoke joined to another axial end of said shaft portion of said iron core and extending outside of said coil, said yoke including a major portion extending generally parallel with said center axis, an outer peripheral region of said head portion of said iron core being opposed to and spaced from a distal end region of said major portion of said yoke; wherein said armature includes first and second electrically conductive plate elements holding said permanent magnet therebetween in a direction of magnetization of said permanent magnet and disposed to orient said direction of magnetization in parallel with said center axis of said coil, said armature being arranged linearly movably in a direction parallel with said center axis in a state where a part of said first electrically conductive plate element is inserted into a space defined between said outer peripheral region of said head portion of said iron core and said distal end region of said major portion of said yoke; and wherein said force transfer member is arranged to linearly shift in a direction parallel with said center axis to make said contact section open or close, while accompanying with a linear movement of said armature driven by said electromagnet in the direction parallel with said center axis.