This invention relates generally to electronic actuator circuits and, more particularly, to an actuator for controlling an output based upon the position of an externally controlled potentiometer, wherein the actuator includes an internal feedback potentiometer matched in position to the external potentiometer.
Actuators of this type, sometimes referred to as B-type actuators, are often used in vehicle HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems to control the rotational position of the output shaft of a bi-directional electric motor. This output shaft, in turn, can be used to control the position of a butterfly vane member to regulate the blend of heated and cooled air blown into the passenger compartment of the vehicle by moving the vane to alternately open and close warm and cool air ducts.
The actuator is usually controlled by an external potentiometer operable by the passenger via a rotary or linearly slidable switch. The passenger controlled potentiometer converts positional information of the switch into an electrical resistance used as an input to the actuator circuit. This switch is typically movable between a COOL setting, wherein a warm air duct is completely closed off and a cool air duct is fully opened, and a WARM setting, wherein a cool air duct is completely closed off and a warm air duct is fully opened, or to any position therebetween wherein the vane assumes an intermediate position and both ducts are left partially open.
Movement of the switch to cause the vane to move to either fully closed position eventually results in a physical end of travel position of the vane. The duct itself will typically disable any further movement of the vane, and therefore further rotational movement of the motor output shaft, thereby causing the motor to stall. Currently available actuators of this type, as used in such vehicular HVAC systems, stall at each end of travel position, and thereafter maintain a continuous stall condition until reset, or until further movement of the passenger controlled potentiometer occurs. However, this continuous stall mode is inherently disadvantageous since the motor in this state draws an undesirably high amount of electrical current.
Prediction of the end of travel positions of the vane, in order to anticipate arrival of the vane at those positions and provide an actuator design which prevents such a continuous stall condition, can be difficult since the end of travel positions vary from vehicle to vehicle. This is due both to differences in duct designs between vehicle types and to wide tolerances in non-critical parts such as air ducts. End of travel positions would need to be predicted for each vehicle and overly conservative predictions would lead to the elimination of fully open or closed positions and therefore a less efficient HVAC system.
The present invention provides an improvement over previous actuators of this type in that movement of the external potentiometer to drive the motor and move the vane starts a timer. When a predetermined time period has elapsed, the actuator cuts power to the drivers of the motor, thereby putting the system into a "sleep" mode in which a minimum amount of current is drawn. If the external potentiometer was moved so as to cause an end of travel position of the vane and the motor stalls, the actuator maintains this stall condition only until expiration of the predefined time period after which the sleep mode is initiated. This sleep mode is thereafter maintained until power is reset or until the position of the external control potentiometer is changed. The time-out period is set to allow for full movement of the vane as well as to compensate for any uncertainty as to whether an end of travel position has been reached. This eliminates the need to predict the end of travel position in order to avoid a continuous stall condition.
The present actuator thus provides significant improvements over previous actuators of this type and may be used in a wide variety of vehicles. The actuator and motor when in sleep mode consume very little current, less than when in a continuous stall condition and even less than when in a quiescent state. The actuator circuit itself is simple, inexpensive and suitable for a wide variety of applications. These and other advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.