Sensorless position detection in an electromagnetic actuator

The invention relates to an electromagnetic actuator and a method for activating the actuator, which at least an armature (3), two coils (1, 2). During a sudden increase of current flow, the voltage waveform is applied to the two coils (1, 2) is measured. From these measured data, a third voltage waveform (25) is calculated in a difference former (16) from which a logic unit (17) determines the position of the armature (3) without using an additional sensor.