As one would expect there has been a significant increase in the sales growth and usage of automated valves over the last ten years. The growth of automated valves should continue as technology advances the capability of plants and end users to integrate all valves into their systems and processes leading to greater efficiencies and competitive advantages.

Automated valves are valves mated with an actuator to automatically stroke ball, plug, butterfly and other types of design. Specific valves are used for certain applications based either on tradition or often on subjective requirements from the user's personal experience. BDK Engineering industries offers an enormous variety of designs in both valves and actuators. In addition there are large numbers of accessory items to complement the automated package, including position indicating limit switches, positioners for throttling control, solenoid pilot valves, manual overrides, local/remote push-button stations and tie-ins to distributed control systems. Many of these control accessories are available in various analog as well as digital signals.

Quarter-turn valves, such as ball, plug, and butterfly tend to be more easily automated. The same quarter-turn resilient seat and seal designs which deliver tighter shut-off and stem sealing in many services also requires less torque output from an actuator. Movement is a rotary 90 degrees or 180 degrees which is simple to automate. Low torque is encountered due to position seating into resilient seat materials. Actuators for quarter-turn valves are more compact, energy efficient, and inexpensive

Following are the typical problems that occur with Incorrect Actuator Mounting:-
 

1. Conventional mounting practice is to install a bracket and adapter between the mounting pad and the mounting surface of the actuator. The adapter or coupling is aligned with the valve stem and the drive sleeve or output stem of the actuator. The bracket is then bolted to the valve and bolted to the actuator. The size of the bracket is dependent upon whether the valve is coupled to an actuator with a male output or a female drive sleeve in the actuator.
   
   Generally, all the concern and attention is focused on the valve and actuator. Little consideration is given to the method of mounting the valve and actuator together. But, in fact, the bracket and adapter can often be the source of failure for valve/actuator packages due to mismatch.
    

2. If the bracket is warped, however slightly, or the bolt drillings are off, side-loading of the stem can occur.
    

3. If the coupling is too long and bracket bolts are drawn down tightly the coupling can jam the stem of the valve into the plug, ball, or bearing surface of the valve resulting in higher torque than the actuator can provide.
    

4. Stamped brackets are subject to memory reflex as the metal attempts to return to the original pre-bent configuration.
    

5. Custom brackets made of heavy channel or tube steel are subject to metal twisting after being cut from a longer length.
    

6. Surfaces of channels may not be true. Drillings can lose center and become misaligned for bolt holes.
   
   All of these things can cause excessive wear and higher torque than expected. This can result in stem leakage or actuator stall due to simple misalignment of the bracket and adapter package.
    

7. Over time the exposed parts are subject to corrosion which can also increase torque as it binds up the valve stem by moving slivers of corroded metal into the packing or seal area of the stem. At best the result is side-loading; at worst a valve that doesn't respond to a signal to stroke.
    

8. An area of great concern with conventional bracket/adapter actuation is the slop that can occur with the connections between the adapter and the valve stem and the adapter and the drive sleeve of the actuator. This can lead to ruined batches or poor mixing and a multitude of problems.

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