The actuators will be used at two municipal water works which supply the town of Lohr am Main, in Bavaria, and surrounding areas. The GT actuators have been installed at a plant in Schwebberg while the CK electric actuators are at a site in Wombach.

At both sites water is extracted from six springs and two deep wells while the treatment takes place at seven waterworks. The actuators, which have been installed on butterfly and gate valves ranging from 2 to 12 inches, are being used to drive isolation valves on the water stream in these plants to allow filtering, storage and distribution to take place.

Underground containers with capacity for 5,500 m³ store the treated water before it is distributed through a pipeline network which is around 180 km long.

The GT and CK actuators were chosen by the customer because of Rotork’s open communication and expert consultancy service. The functionality, reliability and durability of the actuators, as well as the modular nature of the CK, were also key factors.

Rotork’s GT range of single and double-acting pneumatic piston actuators offer torques from 2.4 to 15,300 Nm and air pressure of 2 to 10 bar. They can provide stroke adjustment of -5° to +5° from a 90° position while single or double end stop options are provided.

The actuator is suitable for use in hazardous areas with ATEX 2014/34/EU certification and is suitable for use at Safety Integrity Level 3 (SIL3) as a single device in accordance with IEC 61508.

The watertight CK range actuators are suitable for all valves in non-hazardous locations and can operate under the stress of high temperatures and strong vibrations by using separately mounted controls. It offers a direct output torque range of 10 to 500 Nm (7 to 369 lbf.ft), with a maximum torque when combined with a multi-turn gearbox up to 10,800 Nm (8,000 lbf.ft) and a maximum torque with a quarter-turn gearbox as high as 205,600 Nm (151,6000 lbf.ft).