Electric actuators have been used to control valves in demanding applications such as oil and gas, commercial power, and fresh water and wastewater processing since the 1980s. However, actuator and valve failures can compromise plant performance and employee safety. This can result in significant consequences for plant operators, including lost production and reduced profitability from downtime. This also can have an impact on the relationship and credibility of operators with their customers. In the water industry, equipment failure can cause contamination and create health risks for the general public, resulting in heavy fines and negative publicity for the operator. Thus, engineers designing plants and plant operators need actuators that can perform reliably and provide historical valve and actuator data for identifying maintenance requirements.
To meet ever-increasing requirements for efficiency and cost reduction, operators also look for highly reliable actuators that not only control the flow of fluids and gases but help them avoid expensive, unplanned downtime. According to Baker Hughes, a mere 3.65 days of unplanned downtime a year can cost oil and gas companies approximately $5.037 million.
To avoid that unplanned downtime and loss in revenue, operators need actuators with a variety of sensors, data collection and analytics capabilities — equipment enhanced with the intelligence to identify and report valve performance that’s outside of specified ranges. In addition, they want actuator hardware and software that alert technicians to mechanical issues before the valve or actuator breaks down and disrupts operations.
Data enables plant operators to determine if they’re going to face equipment problems. That helps them to take corrective actions beforehand, so they don’t face plant downtime and incur production losses and repair costs. Smart actuators and diagnostic systems enable operators to understand process applications better and determine what’s running correctly (and what’s not) with specific equipment.
The goal is to help business leaders make smarter long-term decisions for the benefit of their plants. Smart actuators provide them with more data in order to analyze operational trends and understand equipment performance over longer periods of time.
In this white paper, you will learn more about how advanced actuators can:
• Improve the reliability of equipment and processes
• Simplify maintenance
• Ensure accurate commissioning, setup and operation
• Expand data collection and analyses of equipment condition and performance
Previous generations of electric actuators were basically a motor to move a valve. Now, as the technology is growing, actuators are more than just the motor. They are critical for asset management. They’re becoming an integral part of the total system that provides feedback to alert operators about what’s exactly going on with the valve in the process.
