NB: This article first appeared as part of the Talking the Torque series in Water Magazine

Like a box of LEGO bricks, a modular actuator can be assembled in different ways to suit the job. Key Account Manager for AUMA Actuators Limited, Martin Hardwidge, explains how flexible configuration can make valves easier to access, operate and maintain, delivering tangible benefits for site personnel.

Here’s a pub quiz question – which company is the world’s biggest tyre manufacturer? Dunlop, Firestone, Hankook? Nup, it’s LEGO. Apparently*. And what do we know about LEGO, apart from the incredible pain of stepping on a piece with bare feet? It comes as a set of components that can be fitted together in a whole lot of different ways. Guess what? So can an AUMA actuator.

So, today, I’m looking at how a valve actuator can help in what is now called ‘human factor engineering’, in other words, how the day-to-day operation of the site can be supported by correct selection of equipment.

When designers put together a project, one of the things they should be considering is how the site is going to be operated once it’s been handed over. Think of all the places around water and wastewater sites and throughout the network where the pipework, and therefore the valves, can be found. Whether those valves are manual or automated they must be accessible or there would be no reason to have them. Furthermore, there are day-to-day adjustments that might have to be made so, when you think that a big WWTW might have up to a thousand actuated valves and many more manual valves, it’s easy to see how significant amounts of time can be spent in gaining access to valves and actuators that could even be in confined spaces or at a height (more on that in the next article).

Another issue, when you get to the right spot, is – can you actually reach or read the equipment? Is the display pointing in the right direction? Is it the right way up? If you need to use the handwheel, is it pointing in the right direction? Can you reach it?

AUMA’s Big Idea, as I’ve mentioned in previous articles, is ‘modularity’, which is a bland word with big implications for the way we are able to work and respond. At AUMA UK, near Bristol, we hold about £2.5 million worth of stock, which typically comes in the form of high-level components (modules!) which we then put together to meet our customers’ needs. The actuator worm drive and gearcase is one module, the motor is another, the controls are another, and so on.

By operating in this way, we’re able to quickly build and test equipment to exactly match what our customers need, and of course it also makes maintenance very straightforward – replacing a motor is just a case of removing four Allen bolts.

More relevantly for this article, though, it also means that components can be put together in a variety of configurations – the LCD display and control buttons can fit to the main control unit in four directions – up, down, right, left, so regardless of the actuator orientation the display is always the right way up – no more cricked necks! In the same way, the actuator body can be positioned in four different orientations so that the handwheel always faces the operator and can therefore be easily extended so that access to the vital controls is always easily to hand.

The orientation of the various components is governed by a simple four-digit code in the product specification, so AUMA are able to supply actuators to site pre-configured to drop straight in, or the work can easily be done on site.

Simple changes that can have a significant benefit to day-to-day site operations.

*The same bloke told me that the world’s biggest selling car is the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe, something I’m happy to believe without feeling the need to fact-check.