Patent attributes
A passive magnetic latch is disclosed. The latch includes, according to various embodiments, a magnetically-actuated switch and a hard, non-linear biasing magnet. The switch may include components that, when polarized, cause the switch to transition from a first state to a second state. The biasing magnet is positioned proximate to the switch such that when the magnetization of the biasing magnet is changed by an external effect to thereby induce a modified magnetic field from the biasing magnet, the modified magnetic field polarizes the components of the switch such that the switch transitions from the first state to the second state and remains in the second state after the external effect is removed. A second external effect may be used to again change the magnetization of the biasing magnet such that the components of the switch depolarize and the switch transitions back the first state. As such, the magnetic latch may act like a remote ON/OFF switch.
