Patent ID: 7798110

Claim:
A device for controlling the opening and closing of an internal combustion engine valve, comprising: an electromagnet containing a coil and a magnetic circuit; a plate, coupled to the valve to control the positioning of the valve; wherein, at least one magnetic element selected from (i) the magnetic circuit of the electromagnet and (ii) the plate contains a magnetic material having a state of remnant magnetization when the valve is in the open or closed position, the remnant magnetization being cancelable and reversible so as to be cancelled when the valve changes position and having a coercive field strength in the range of 10 Oe to 600 Oe, wherein the coil is supplied sequentially with (i) a magnetization current such that the flux of the coil magnetizes the magnetic element to the state of remnant magnetization, and (ii) a demagnetization current such that the flux of the coil cancels the remnant magnetization of the magnetic element.