LB Bentley, small bore subsea valve specialist has recently developed an advanced rotary actuator, OPTItork™, to meet the escalating technical demands of subsea applications. LB Bentley’s heritage in rotary gate valve actuators informed the work of its R&D team as it sought to refine and optimise the actuator design. The OPTItork™ is engineered to achieve requirements for both more stringent signature tests and a higher number of endurance cycles. It also has a greater available opening torque, new overload protection and a reduced installation envelope.
The actuator is fully certified to perform at temperatures ranging from -4°C to +66°C at installed depths of 10,000ft (3,048m) and will initially be available to operate 3/8” and 1/2” LB Bentley rotary gate valves at differential pressures of up to 15,000psi (1,034bar).
A fundamental component of OPTItork™ is its helix sleeve. This has been fully re-engineered to ensure maximum torque during the opening stroke, without compromising performance on the return stroke. Internal bearings and seals have been reconfigured to achieve a performance that easily surpasses twice the number of operating cycles demanded by API 17D 2nd Ed. For maximum durability, all essential internal sliding surfaces are nitrided for low friction and to provide a repeatable performance over the actuator’s long life.
