With temperatures dropping as low as -40°C, thousands of multi-flat dwellings in Moscow need heating for a large part of the year. A modernisation programme incorporating SIPOS Aktorik’s electric actuators is updating a district system to ensure that effective year round heating is provided to the Russian capital’s residents.
Over thirty SIPOS actuators provide valve control technology for large pipelines up to 1000 mm in diameter which require fast closure to avoid water leakage, which would be catastrophic for Moscow city as, due to the climate, the water would rapidly turn to ice in winter. A proportion of the actuators are adopted for emergency closing and a number are used for precise flow control (modulating duty).
Key features significant in the adoption of SIPOS’ actuators for the district heating application were variable speed performance for precision modulation, soft start and stop capability and prevention of water hammer. As SIPOS 5 actuators have no start-up current, low-cost UPS systems can be utilised for power independency.
A redundant PROFIBUS interface enables integration of SIPOS’ actuators into the Moscow system’s modern Distributed Control System (DCS).
SIPOS’ local partner visited pumping stations to understand the challenges faced by the customer, the Moscow District Heating Company (MTK). Presentations were made and tests were carried out on the DCS. SIPOS’ service extended to engineer site visits to ensure satisfactory commissioning of the actuation technology.