Switching method and magnetic switch with manual or remote control

Abstract

The inventive magnetic switch with manual and remote control comprises a tripping assembly (1) and a magnetic assembly (2) and is characterised in that it further comprises a control system (3) comprising at least one position sensor (31) arranged in the immediate vicinity of a positional arm in the tripping assembly (1), and at least one control output (32) and input of an external control signal, and at the same time the control system (3) comprises a control unit and a power pulse generation system, wherein the control system (3) is electrically connected to a solenoid in the housing (25) in the magnetic assembly (2). The magnetic assembly (2) comprises a solenoid polarised by at least one permanent magnet with a movable longitudinal ferromagnetic core, said ferromagnetic core being connected by a coaxial rod to a tripping element (12) in the tripping assembly (1). The tripping assembly (1) comprises a positional arm (11) connected to the tripping element (12) and movably seated in a support (14) which connects the tripping assembly (1) to the magnetic assembly (2). The method for controlling the switching in the magnetic switch is characterised in that it provides control pulses that control the solenoid, said pulses making it possible to remotely control the switch, while at the same time it provides an adequate response to manual control of the switch. Moreover, the invention provides a computer product implementing the steps of the method.

Description

[0001] Switching method and magnetic switch with manual or remote control

[0002] The subject-matter of the invention is a method for switching and a magnetic switch with manual or remote control, especially for general use equipment and in particular for audio equipment.

[0003] Mechanical switches which make it possible to close an electric circuit are known. There are many types of such switches, especially rocker switches, both monostable and bistable.

[0004] Automatic switches are also known, mainly used in protective systems. They typically comprise a propulsion mechanism comprising a latch with a resilient element, and a tripping mechanism comprising, e.g., an electromagnet. These types of switches can be automatically switched off, but cannot be switched on.

[0005] In other designs, such as relays, a low-current circuit is used to control the high-current circuit and an electromagnet or a solenoid is used to control the high-current circuit. A characteristic feature is the separation of low-current circuits from high-current circuits. Switches of this type make it possible to manually or electrically switch the low-current circuit. However, it is not possible to remotely change the position of the low-current switch, which remains in its position or a monostable switch is used.

[0006] Switches are known which enable manual and remote control and they are mostly realised by short-travel monostable switches and circuits with relays. Information about the state of the switch must be indicated by a diode or information displayed on the display of a device. This solution makes it possible to change the state of the switch using remote control, then the displayed information and the state of the relay circuit change, but the position of the switch does not change.

[0007] The invention solves the problem of providing a manually and remotely controllable switch, which can be switched either directly by the user or by means of an external electrical signal, both from the on and off position. At the same time, the state of the switch is clearly visible, with no additional means for presenting this information being provided - the switch of the invention is a user interface that informs the user about the state of the device by its very position. The switch of the invention ensures reliable operation by keeping the number of mechanical elements to a minimum and by means of a special method for controlling the position of the switch and the external circuit. The manually and remotely controllable magnetic switch of the invention comprises a tripping assembly and a magnetic assembly and is characterised in that it further comprises a control system comprising at least one position sensor arranged in the immediate vicinity of the positional arm in the tripping assembly, and at least one control output and input of an external control signal, and at the same time the control system comprises a control unit and a power pulse generation system, wherein the control system is electrically connected to a solenoid in the magnetic assembly. The magnetic assembly comprises a solenoid polarised by at least one permanent magnet with a movable longitudinal ferromagnetic core, said ferromagnetic core being connected by a coaxial rod to a tripping element in the tripping assembly. The solenoid has a dual function, it propels the ferromagnetic core or, when switched off, creates mechanical resistance similar to that of known resilient elements. The tripping assembly comprises a positional arm connected to the tripping element and movably seated in a support which connects the tripping assembly to the magnetic assembly, with the tripping element in the tripping assembly assuming at least one resting position. The resting position is one of the extreme positions to which the system returns automatically depending on the type of a solenoid used, while the extreme position is a position in which further movement of the tripping element is not possible - there are only two extreme positions when moving along a section.

[0008] It is preferred that the control system comprises one position sensor that senses the position of the positional arm of the positional arm.

[0009] It is preferred that the control system comprises two position sensors of the positional arm, wherein one position sensor is in the immediate vicinity of the positional arm at one of its extreme positions and the other sensor is in the immediate vicinity of the positional arm at the other of its extreme positions.

[0010] It is preferred that the magnetic assembly connected by the rod to the tripping assembly assumes one resting position.

[0011] It is preferred that the magnetic assembly connected by the rod to the tripping assembly assumes two resting positions. The resting positions do not need to coincide with the extreme positions that the switch can assume.

[0012] It is preferred that the magnetic assembly comprises a bistable solenoid polarised by at least one permanent magnet. The polarisation of the solenoid ensures its dual functionality as a magnetic resilient element and as source of propulsion. It is preferred that the housing of the magnetic assembly and the ferromagnetic core are made of a soft ferromagnetic material.

[0013] It is preferred that the tripping element is a lever rotatably fixed to the support of the tripping assembly, said lever being connected to the positional arm and the arm of the rod, with said arm of the rod being connected to the rod in a swinging manner.

[0014] It is preferred that the at least one position sensor comprises an opto-isolator and the positional arm comprises a diaphragm that changes the state of the position sensor in the at least one resting position. The opto-isolator is a semiconductor optoelectronic element consisting of at least one photoemitter and at least one photodetector arranged in a common housing.

[0015] The method for controlling the switching of the switch of the invention comprises changing the state of the output circuit in response to the change of the position of the switch tripping element and is characterised in that it comprises the cyclical steps of: a) detecting, by means of the position sensor, the position of the positional arm and if there has been a change of the position of the positional arm, proceeding to step f), or otherwise b) reading, by the control unit, an external control signal at the control input of the control system, and if no external control signal is read, proceeding back to step a), and if an external control signal is read, then c) generating a pulse, in the power pulse generation system, with a polarisation corresponding to a possible direction of switching of the solenoid, wherein the movement of the ferromagnetic core of the solenoid is in the direction consistent with the longitudinal axis of the ferromagnetic core, and its sense depends on the current position of the positional arm read in step a), and d) powering the solenoid with the pulse, e) re-detecting, by means of the position sensor, the position of the positional arm, f) depending on the position of the positional arm, changing the state of the output circuit of the control output and proceeding to step a). Changing the state of the output circuit of the control output consists in closing or opening the output circuit of the control output or storing the message in a relevant register or memory cell. Detecting, by means of the position sensor, the position of the positional arm makes it possible to determine whether there has been a change of the position of the arm, if the previous position of the arm is known. For the purposes of this specification, it is understood that if the previous position of the arm is not known, it means that there is no change of the position of the arm. A change of the position of the arm caused by an action by the user results in proceeding from step a) to f); the remaining steps realise the method for a remote control of the switching.

[0016] It is preferred that in step e), after detecting the position of the positional arm, if there has been no change of the position, steps c)-e) are repeated, with the pulse generated again in step c) having a polarisation corresponding to a possible direction of switching of the solenoid and the pulse duration extended by a predefined value, and more preferably the change of the pulse duration is determined by the control signal. Extending the pulse duration makes it possible to obtain control with the minimum pulse length necessary to obtain the result of the ferromagnetic core being shifted. Changing the pulse duration based on the information from the control signal makes it possible to ensure greater flexibility and more precise control of the movement of the ferromagnetic core.

[0017] It is preferred that step d) is followed by steps g) generating, in the power pulse generation system in the control system, a halting pulse that halts the ferromagnetic core h) powering the solenoid coil with the halting pulse, the halting pulse having an opposite polarisation to the pulse but a smaller amplitude or shorter duration than the power pulse. The halting pulse is to reduce the adverse effects associated with the operation of the solenoid, such as the generated noise and vibrations.

[0018] It is preferred that the halting pulse is applied to the solenoid coil after a predetermined delay time.

[0019] It is preferred that before step g), there is a step of detecting the position of the positional arm, based on the information from the first position sensor or from the second position sensor, depending on the direction of the change of the position of the switch, wherein detecting the movement means an approaching of the positional arm to the second position of the tripping element with respect to the position determined in step a), and if no movement of the positional arm is detected, proceeding to step c), with the pulse generated again in step c) extended by a predefined value, or otherwise, if movement of the positional arm is detected, proceeding to step g). A computer product of the invention is executed by the control unit in the control system of the magnetic switch of the invention and is characterised in that it performs the steps of the method of the invention.

[0020] The advantage of the solution of the invention is that a synergistic effect is achieved. On the one hand, the solenoid provides propulsion to change the state of the switch as influenced by an external control signal, on the other hand, the solenoid makes it possible to imitate the behaviour of a typical switch, which needs to be switched by applying certain force, and the switch changes the state on a stepwise basis with a pleasant resistance feeling. Depending on the type of a solenoid used, a bistable or monostable switch can be obtained. The advantage of the invention is also that resilient elements can be completely eliminated using a polarised bistable solenoid. Another advantage is that contactors can be eliminated from the device circuits, which is of great importance in some applications, such as audio devices.

[0021] The subject-matter of the invention in its embodiments is shown in the drawing, wherein Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of the switch with one position sensor, Fig. 2 shows a cross-section along the longitudinal axis of the ferromagnetic core and the lever, Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of the switch with one position sensor from the side of the magnetic assembly, Fig. 4 shows a cross-section along the same axis as in Fig. 2, but in the second static position, Fig. 5 shows a side view of the switch in an embodiment with two position sensors, Fig. 6 schematically shows an exploded view of the embodiment of a switch with two position sensors, Fig. 7 shows a block diagram of the control system, Fig. 8 shows a block diagram of the method for controlling the switching.

[0022] The magnetic assembly 2 in the embodiment comprises a housing 25 with a cuboidal outline, wherein the housing 25 comprises two longitudinal walls and two shorter walls - boundary walls. The housing 25 comprises two portions, the first housing portion 251 comprising two longer sides and one shorter wall all formed from one rectangular piece of soft ferromagnetic material with a near-U-shape, and the second housing portion 252 with a rectangular shape, comprising a second shorter wall of the housing 25 made of the same material as the first housing portion 251. The two longer walls are at right angles to the shorter walls. The free ends of the longer sides comprise grooves into which the projections on the two edges of the second boundary wall fit (Fig. 1, Fig. 3), wherein both housing portions are press-fitted together. Both walls comprise openings for the ferromagnetic core 22 of the solenoid 21. The solenoid 21 is arranged inside the housing 25, wherein the ferromagnetic core 22 of the solenoid 21 moves along the longitudinal axis of the housing 25. The solenoid 21 comprises two coils connected in series, with a permanent magnet 24 arranged between the coils, said magnet comprising two portions, each of which comprises a semi-circular narrowing 27 for the ferromagnetic core 22 of the solenoid 21. The permanent magnet 24 generates a constant magnetic field within the housing, forming a polarised solenoid 21. Inside the housing 25, additional fixing structures 26 are also arranged that fix the individual elements to the housing and they have the shape of rectangular elements with an opening for the ferromagnetic core 22 and are arranged parallel to the shorter walls of the housing 25.

[0023] The housing 25 of the magnetic assembly 2 is connected to the support 14 of the tripping assembly 1, for example by means of screws 17 (Fig. 6). The support 14 serves to fix the switch to the housing of the device in which it is to be used. The support 14 is made of one piece of sheet metal plate, for example a stainless steel sheet metal plate, wherein the face portion 140 contacts the housing 25 of the magnetic assembly. In other aspects of the embodiment, the support is made of aluminium or plastic. Two distancing arms 141 and 142 extend from the upper face portion 140, said arms bent at right angles to the plane of the face portion 140 of the support 14 in the direction opposite to the magnetic assembly 2 The distancing arms 141 and 142 taper at their ends and comprise slots forming hooks for being seated in the face plate of the device. In the central face portion 140, there is a support element 143 in the shape of a rounded eye, bent at right angles to the plane of the face portion 140 and comprising an opening for the axis of the lever 13 of the tripping element 12, said lever being blocked in the opening by means of a circlip 16. In the lower part of the support 14, there is a stepped element 144, also bent at right angles to the plane of the face portion 140, with the end 145 of said element being, on the other hand, parallel to the plane of the face portion 140 and comprises an opening for fixing the tripping assembly 1 and the entire switch to the housing of the device in which it is to be used. The stepped element 144 also comprises projections 146 with a near-L-shape for fixing the control system 3, and more particularly for fixing the position sensors 31. The stepped element 144 comprises an opening for the positional arm 11 so that the positional arm 11 may be within the range of the position sensor 31.

[0024] The magnetic switch in the embodiment comprises the tripping assembly and the magnetic assembly (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3, Fig. 4, Fig. 5, Fig. 6). The tripping assembly 1 comprises the positional arm 11 connected to the tripping element 12, said tripping assembly 1 assuming two resting positions. For example, the tripping element 12 is a lever 13 rotatably fixed to the support 14 of the tripping assembly 1, said lever being connected to the positional arm 11 and the arm 15 of the rod, with said arm 15 of the rod being connected to the rod 23 in a swinging manner. The user, by shifting the lever 13, causes the positional arm to shift, thus activating or deactivating the position sensor 31, and the arm 15 of the rod to shift and the ferromagnetic core 22 to move in the magnetic assembly.

[0025] The magnetic assembly 2 comprises the solenoid 21 polarised by two permanent magnets 24 with an elongated ferromagnetic core 22 which is connected by a coaxial rod 23 to the tripping element 12 in the tripping assembly 1. The magnetic assembly 2 connected by the rod 23 to the tripping assembly 1 assumes two resting positions. The magnetic assembly 2 comprises a bistable solenoid 21 polarised by two permanent magnets 24. Permanent magnets are a source of a constant magnetic field that counteracts the displacement of the ferromagnetic core 22 to a certain boundary position, after reaching which the force of attraction to the opposite boundary wall of the housing causes stepped attraction of the ferromagnetic core 22. The solenoid housing 25 and the ferromagnetic core 22 are made of a soft ferromagnetic material. An effect has been achieved similar to that of the use of a resilient element, which is found in typical solutions known in the art.

[0026] The magnetic assembly 2 in an aspect of the embodiment comprises a monostable solenoid 21. In such a configuration, a monostable or bistable switch may be obtained, wherein the bistable switch would require a continuous powering of the solenoid 21 at one of the extreme positions.

[0027] The magnetic switch further comprises the control system 3, which comprises one position sensor 31, which is arranged in the immediate vicinity of the positional arm 11 in the tripping assembly 1, and one control output 32 and one input 33 of the external control signal 34, and at the same time the control system 3 also comprises the control unit 35 and the power pulse generation system 37, with the control system 3 being electrically connected to the solenoid 21 in the magnetic assembly 2 (Fig. 7). The control system makes it possible to control the external circuit via the control output 32 based on the analysis of the current position of the tripping element 12 (lever 13); when the control system 3 detects a change of the position of the lever 13 by means of the position sensor 31, it closes or opens the external circuit connected to the control output 32. The position of the switch may be changed either by a direct user action on the lever 13 and their changing its position, or based on an external control signal 34 received at the input 33. The control system 3 comprises a control unit 35 that monitors the state of the control input and the current position of the switch, and when it detects an external control signal, it forms an adequate switching pulse to power the solenoid in order to change the position of the ferromagnetic core 22 and consequently to change the position of the lever 13. The lever 13 is visible to the user and its position informs about the current state of the device without the need to create additional interfaces for communication, such as LEDs or liquid crystal displays.

[0028] The position sensor 31 comprises an opto-isolator 33 and the positional arm comprises a diaphragm 16 that changes the state of the position sensor 31 in one of the resting positions. It is apparent to a person skilled in the art that the position sensor may be any other element, such as a contactor, a reed switch, a Hall sensor, and the like.

[0029] In an aspect of the embodiment, the control system 3 comprises two position sensors 311 and 312, wherein one position sensor 311 is in the immediate vicinity of the positional arm 11 at one of its extreme positions and the other sensor 312 is in the immediate vicinity of the positional arm 11 at the other of its extreme positions (Fig. 5). With the two position sensors 311 and 312, it is possible to control the movement of the ferromagnetic core 22 using the halting pulses 38, which are to reduce the noise associated with the automatic switching of the switch. A person skilled in the art will recognise that the number of the position sensors 31 may be different, for example 4, the outermost two of which are for detecting the state of the switch and the inner two for tripping the generation of the halting pulses 38.

[0030] It is apparent to a person skilled in the art that in the case of a plurality of switches, the control system 3 may be common to all of them, which contributes to a reduction in the unit cost of the device. The common control system may further be integrated on a single board or in a single system within a single device further reducing the unit cost of the device in which the switches of the invention are used.

[0031] The method for controlling the switching of the switch of the embodiment comprises changing the state of the output circuit in response to the change of the position of the switch tripping element and also cyclically (Fig. 8): a) detecting, by means of the position sensor 31, the position of the positional arm 11 and if there has been a change of the position of the positional arm 11, proceeding to step I), or otherwise; b) reading, by the control unit 35, an external control signal at the control input 33 of the control system 3, and if no external control signal 34 is read, proceeding back to step a); and if an external control signal 34 is read, then: c) generating a pulse 36, in the power pulse generation system 37, with a polarisation corresponding to a possible direction of switching of the solenoid 21, wherein the movement of the ferromagnetic core 22 of the solenoid 21 is in the direction consistent with the longitudinal axis of the ferromagnetic core 22, and its sense depends on the current position of the positional arm 11 read in step a); and d) powering the solenoid 21 with the pulse 36; e) re-detecting, by means of the position sensor 31, the position of the positional arm 11 ; f) depending on the position of the positional arm 11, changing the state of the output circuit of the control output 32 and proceeding to step a).

[0032] In an aspect of the embodiment, changing the state of the output circuit of the control output 32 consists in closing or opening the output circuit of the control output 32. In another aspect of the embodiment, changing the state of the output circuit of the control output 32 may consist in changing the state of a relevant register or memory cell on which the activation or deactivation of a particular function of the device in which the switch is used depends. Then, the control output 32 is understood to be a register or memory input used to store the information about the change of the state of the device.

[0033] The repetition period of the cycle of steps a) - f) depends on the particular application and is, for example, 0.1 s, 0.02 s or 5 ms.

[0034] In another aspect of the embodiment, in step e), after detecting the position of the positional arm 11, if there has been no change of the position, steps c)-e) are repeated, with the pulse 36 generated again in step c) having a polarisation corresponding to a possible direction of switching of the solenoid 21 and the pulse 36 duration extended by a predefined value. The predefined value is, for example, 5 ms. The time depends on the physical dimensions of the switch and the time necessary to switch the entire system. In yet another aspect of this embodiment, the change of the pulse 36 duration is determined by the control signal 34, for example, this value may be 2 s. This is particularly useful when a monostable solenoid is used that automatically returns to one resting state. To cause a specific action, such a switch should be held by the user for a specified period of time, for example 2 s, and then it returns to the resting state. With the remote control of the switch, the holding time of the switch may be transmitted by means of a control signal, for example, the duration of the control signal is proportional to the duration of the pulse 36, so that the pulse lasts 2 s. When it is finished, the switch returns to its resting position.

[0035] The method for controlling the switching of the switch of another aspect of the embodiment comprises changing the state of the output circuit in response to the change of the position of the switch tripping element and also cyclically (Fig. 8): 1) detecting, by means of the position sensor 31, the position of the positional arm 11 and if there has been a change of the position of the positional arm 11, proceeding to step 9), or otherwise;

[0036] 2) reading, by the control unit 35, an external control signal 34 at the control input 33 of the control system 3, and if no external control signal 34 is read, proceeding back to step 1); and if an external control signal 34 is read, then:

[0037] 3) generating a pulse 36, in the power pulse generation system 37, with a polarisation corresponding to a possible direction of switching of the solenoid 21, wherein the movement of the ferromagnetic core 22 of the solenoid 21 is in the direction consistent with the longitudinal axis of the ferromagnetic core 22, and its sense depends on the current position of the positional arm 11 read in step 1), and

[0038] 4) powering the solenoid 21 with the pulse 36;

[0039] 5) reading the position of the positional arm 11, based on information from the first position sensor 311 or the second position sensor 312, depending on the direction of the change of the position of the switch, wherein the reading means the positional arm 11 approaching the second extreme position of the tripping element 12 with respect to the position determined in step 1);

[0040] 6) generating, in the control system 3, a halting pulse 38 that halts the ferromagnetic core 22;

[0041] 7) powering the coil of the solenoid 21 with the halting pulse 38, the halting pulse 38 having an opposite polarisation to the tripping pulse but less energy;

[0042] 8) reading the position of the positional arm 11, if there has been no change of the position, then repeating steps 4)-8), with the pulse 36 generated again having a polarisation corresponding to a possible direction of switching of the solenoid 21 and the pulse 36 duration extended;

[0043] 9) depending on the position of the positional arm 11 , closing or opening the output circuit of the control output 32 and proceeding to step 1).

[0044] The halting pulse 38 is applied to the coil of the solenoid 21 after a predetermined delay time, in this aspect of the embodiment of the switch, where there is only one position sensor 31.

[0045] The method in the embodiments may be realised as a digital -analogue system realised from discrete elements such as single gates and flip-flops. In the embodiment, the control system 3 is made as a digital system, where the control unit 35 comprises a processor or a microcontroller, memory circuits, a data bus, and input and output systems. In a particular aspect of the embodiment, the control unit is an application-specific integrated circuit. The control unit 35 executes a computer program that provides a computer product that performs the process steps as described in the previous embodiments and aspects thereof. It is obvious to a person skilled in the art that a computer program may be provided in any programming language, but in order to ensure the proper operation of the invention, it is necessary to ensure appropriate communication between the elements of the control system 3 and the control unit 35. Further, it is understood that changing the state of the output circuit of the control output 32 may be a change reflected in a relevant register or memory cell of the control unit 35 that is updated when the computer program is executed by the control unit 35. In particular, the control unit 35 also performs other computational functions related to the operation of the device in which the switch of the embodiment is used, and the operation of which may be dependent on a value stored in a relevant register or memory cell and related to the position of the switch.

Claims

Claims A magnetic switch with manual or remote control comprising a tripping assembly (1) and a magnetic assembly (2) characterised in that the tripping assembly (1) comprises a positional arm (11) connected to a tripping element (12) and movably seated in a support (14) which connects the tripping assembly (1) to the magnetic assembly (2), with the tripping element (12) in the tripping assembly (1) assuming at least one resting position, whereas the magnetic assembly (2) comprises a solenoid (21) polarised by at least one permanent magnet (24) with a movable longitudinal ferromagnetic core (22), said ferromagnetic core (22) being connected by a coaxial rod (23) to the tripping element (12) in the tripping assembly (1), and the switch further comprises a control system (3) comprising at least one position sensor (31) arranged in the immediate vicinity of the positional arm (11) in the tripping assembly (1), and at least one control output (32) and input (33) of an external control signal (34), and at the same time the control system (3) comprises a control unit (35) and a power pulse generation system (37), with the control system (3) being electrically connected to the solenoid (21) in the magnetic assembly (2). The switch of claim 1, characterised in that the control system (3) comprises one position sensor (31) of the positional arm (11). The switch of claim 1, characterised in that the control system (3) comprises two position sensors (311, 312) of the positional arm (11), wherein one position sensor (311) is in the immediate vicinity of the positional arm (11) at one of its extreme positions and the other sensor (312) is in the immediate vicinity of the positional arm (11) at the other of its extreme positions. The switch of claim 1 or 2 or 3, characterised in that the magnetic assembly (2) connected by the rod (23) to the tripping assembly (1) assumes one resting position. The switch of claim 1 or 2 or 3, characterised in that the magnetic assembly (2) connected by the rod (23) to the tripping assembly (1) assumes two resting positions.The switch of claim 1 or 2 or 5, characterised in that the magnetic assembly (2) comprises a bistable solenoid (21) polarised by at least one permanent magnet (24). The switch of any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the housing (25) of the magnetic assembly (2) and the ferromagnetic core (22) are made of a soft ferromagnetic material. The switch of any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the tripping element (12) is a lever (13) rotatably fixed to the support (14) of the tripping assembly (1), said lever being connected to the positional arm (11) and the arm (15) of the rod, with said arm (15) of the rod being connected to the rod (23) in a swinging manner. The switch of any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the at least one position sensor (31) comprises an opto-isolator and the positional arm comprises a diaphragm (16) that changes the state of the position sensor (31) in the at least one resting position. A method for controlling the switching of the switch of claim 1-9, which comprises changing the state of the output circuit in response to the change of the position of the switch tripping element, characterised in that it comprises cyclical: a) detecting, by means of the position sensor (31), the position of the positional arm (11) and if there has been a change of the position of the positional arm (11), proceeding to step f), or otherwise b) reading, by the control unit (35), an external control signal (34) at the control input (33) of the control system (3), and if no external control signal (34) is read, proceeding back to step a), and if an external control signal (34) is read, then c) generating a pulse (36), in the power pulse generation system (37), with a polarisation corresponding to a possible direction of switching of the solenoid(21), wherein the movement of the ferromagnetic core (22) of the solenoid (21) is in the direction consistent with the longitudinal axis of the ferromagnetic core(22), and its sense depends on the current position of the positional arm (11) read in step a), and d) powering the solenoid (21) with the pulse (36),e) re-detecting, by means of the position sensor (31), the position of the positional arm (11), f) depending on the position of the positional arm (11), changing the state of the output circuit of the control output (32) and proceeding to step a). The method for controlling the switching of claim 10, characterised in that in step e), after detecting the position of the positional arm (11), if there has been no change of the position, steps c)-e) are repeated, with the pulse (36) generated again in step c) having a polarisation corresponding to a possible direction of switching of the solenoid (21) and the pulse (36) duration extended by a predefined value, and preferably the change of the pulse (36) duration is determined by the control signal (34). The method for controlling the switching of any of the preceding claims, characterised in that after step d) the method comprises the following steps a) generating, in the power pulse generation system (37) in the control system (3), a halting pulse (38) that halts the ferromagnetic core (22) b) powering the solenoid (21) coil with the halting pulse (38), the halting pulse (38) having an opposite polarisation to the pulse (36) but a smaller amplitude or shorter duration than the power pulse (37). The method for controlling the switching of claim 12, characterised in that the halting pulse (38) is applied to the solenoid (21) coil after a predetermined delay time. The method for controlling the switching of claim 12, characterised in that before step g), there is a step of detecting the position of the positional arm (11), based on the information from the first position sensor (311) or from the second position sensor (312), depending on the direction of the change of the position of the switch, wherein detecting the movement means an approaching of the positional arm (11) to the second position of the tripping element (12) with respect to the position determined in step a), and if no movement of the positional arm (11) is detected, proceeding to step c), with the pulse (36) generated again in step c) extended by a predefined value, or otherwise, if movement of the positional arm (11) is detected, proceeding to step g).A computer product executed by the control unit (35) in the control system (3) of the magnetic switch of claim 1-9, characterised in that it performs the steps of the method specified in claims 10-14.

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