Rotork intelligent electric valve actuation with digital 2-wire monitoring and control has been specified for valve automation at the Olivenza Thermosolar power plant in Spain, a CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) technology facility generating eco-friendly electricity for up to 50,000 households.
More than 100 IQ actuators and two Pakscan P3 hot-standby master stations have been supplied, fully installed, cabled and commissioning by Rotork Iberia. Rotork’s intelligent IQ actuator technology is widely recognised as industry-standard for isolating and regulating valve duties in the field of power generation. The use of solid-state electronics as an alternative to switch mechanisms and counter limiting devices, combined with programmable micro-processor based control and instrumentation functionality, offers many proven benefits. These include ‘non-intrusive’ configuration and data transfer by means of a hand held instrument via a secure, bi-directional link. This system is used to perform all the switch setting and commissioning functions that were traditionally only achieved by removing electrical covers. Using the multi-lingual menu on the actuator display screen, it is quick and easy to commission the valve, with or without mains power connected. The same instrument is used to download this data and upload it to other IQ actuators with similar commissioning parameters, simplifying and speeding up the operation, or to download actuator operating information from the actuator’s data logger.
The inclusion of a data logger enables an event-by-event history of valve activity to be generated, including torque profiles produced during each opening and closing. Using Rotork’s IQ-Insight2 software, these can be compared with the valve torque signature profile logged during the commissioning process to identify the trend of valve operating wear or isolate tight spots and other problems. Analysis of this data improves asset management through fault diagnostics and preventative maintenance.