After 25 years, now it is decided to install motor(s)

. Sounds familiar.
Similar situation, my Operators' reasons was either:
- To improve the leakage rate...they think powerful motor will be able to wedge the disc more against the seat. This is not necessarily true
- Less operators' task to go outside (and turn the hand-wheel for 10-20 minutes..estimated time for 24").
IMO..the idea of having fully open/close within 3 minutes is a bit vague for old valves. Unless for some reason, now being attributed as safety function. Just bought 24" valves with Rotork actuator, incorporating safety factor (for spindle) of 1.5, the closing and opening time is around 4-6 minutes. With all due respect, they never had any problem with 10 minutes before this project was initiated.
In general, things to be considered are:
- What general valve condition (internal passing, stem corroded, etc.)? and whether this is still acceptable by your engineers (mechanical, process, etc.).
- safety factor applied for sizing the actuator?
- ISO flange to mount the 'new' actuator. Does modification required? what material is the yoke..if this is cast iron then it would be really challenging to do the welding..is it possible to install adapter flange?
- Agreement on the travel time by technologist, process engineer, mechanical and motor supplier!! You can always have faster travel time but this would correspond to bigger motor.
- Are you going to modify this on-line or at workshop?
Kind regards,
MR
All valves will last for years, except the ones that were poorly manufactured; are still wrongly operated and or were wrongly selected