Integrated sensing for energy-efficient electromagnetic (EM) locks

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This ENGAGE proposal seeks funding for the feasibility study on the development of a smarter and more energy-efficient electromagnetic (EM) lock by incorporating low-cost sensing technologies. EM locks operate by electromagnetic forces and require continuous power consumption to remain locked. This research is motivated from the fact that there exist many applications where the door with an EM lock is rarely accessed in normal situation yet the EM lock has to remain locked all the time consuming unnecessary electric power. The main idea of this proposal is to investigate on the feasibility of monitoring the magnetic reluctance (or the magnetic resistance) through the existing electromagnet to detect initial and imminent attempt to open the door. If magnetic locks can be equipped with such a "self-sensing" capability, we can possibly run them with a very low effective holding force (i.e. drawing very little current) in most of time while no force is applied to open the door. This will bring significant energy saving since the full power can only be applied when an attempt is made to gain entry through the door. The technical objectives of the proposed research are 1) to investigate on the existing technologies of realtime monitoring of magnetic reluctance, and 2) to develop a reliable and cost-effective way to integrate such a sensing capability into the current EM locks.