Rotork Japan has supplied IQ3 intelligent valve actuators for the automation of what is perhaps the world’s first seven-way control valve.
Manufactured in Japan by the Aska Corporation, the valve operates under high pressure to control and regulate the flow of chemicals, such as polymers, thus reducing the load on instrumentation in the downstream manufacturing processes.
The radial design of the valve eliminates any dead space (no flow) areas, which could erode the quality of the media. The design demands a compact actuation solution, which also has the ability to deliver swift and precise valve movements with high operating torques. The high viscosity, temperature and pressure of the media being controlled are further factors that contribute to the challenging demands of the application.
Selcting Rotork’s IQ3 intelligent actuation for the automation of the valve has successfully fulfilled these challenges. The proven long-term reliability of the IQ3 in similar harsh and high temperature hazardous area environments made an important contribution to the valvemaker’s decision to specify Rotork for this application.
Other considerations included the IQ3 actuator’s versatility, functionality and asset management capabilities.
Adapted from press release by Anna Nicklin