Patent ID: 7323835

Claim:
A brushless motor actuator, comprising: a printed circuit board; a Hall Effect sensor surface mounted on said printed circuit board; a wound stator assembly affixed to said printed circuit board, including an annular core fixed in a non-magnetic housing and having an axis that is perpendicular to said printed circuit board, a rotor supported for rotation about said axis, said rotor having an annular permanent magnet disposed adjacent a radial periphery of said annular core; and a ferromagnetic element at least partially embedded in the non-magnetic housing of said wound stator assembly for coupling magnetic flux from the annular permanent magnet of said rotor to said Hall Effect sensor, said ferromagnetic element having a first end disposed in proximity to a periphery of said annular permanent magnet and a second end that terminates in proximity to said Hall Effect sensor, where the first end of said ferromagnetic element is disposed in proximity to a radial periphery of said annular permanent magnet, and where a radial periphery of said annular core adjacent said annular permanent magnet is undercut to define an axially extending region of non-magnetic housing material in proximity to the radial periphery of said annular permanent magnet, and said ferromagnetic element is at least partially embedded in said axially extending region of non-magnetic housing material.