How much penetration have electric actuators made in the power industry?
WARNETT: Electric actuators have always had a place in the power industry on isolating valves. Main steam stop valves and other important valves have traditionally been electrically powered. However, until the advent of recent technological advances, the traditional actuator for modulating control valves has typically been the pneumatic spring diaphragm type. In the past, there have been several attempts at designing an all-electrically actuated power plant, but the limitations of electric actuators in terms of constant modulation and fail-to-position capability have proved to be insurmountable hurdles to overcome. However, there have been some applications where electric actuation has successfully replaced pneumatic actuators. For example, damper controls that typically used pneumatic-cylinder or hydraulic-cylinder actuators are now frequently automated with electric actuators capable of constant modulation. VM: What have been the main impediments to their adoption? WARNETT: Control v
