Use of Internet of Things to monitor, analyze the actuator end of the occasional failure - DCL electric actuator

Customer site feedback cooling system three-way valve failed to operate to the specified position

A nuclear power customer contacted us with feedback of occasional inactivity of the actuator. The specific situation is that after the control system sends an opening command to the actuator via 4~20mA, the actuator feedback does not change the opening degree. After entering the site after power failure, the mechanical opening indicator on the actuator showed that the actuator did not operate.

Special Application Scenarios

Since the application scenario of the device defines a safe operating practice where the power supply must be disconnected before personnel can enter the site, it is not possible to save the state of the fault site.

Deployment of DCL Spirit Dogs to monitor actuator operating data

Deployment of DCL Spirit Dogs to monitor actuator operation data via IoT. After more than 1 month of uninterrupted monitoring, the fault recurred again. By analyzing the actuator operation data within the time window of the fault occurrence, it was found that during this period, the actuator received an opening signal of 0.1mA, reporting an input signal fault.

Problems solved

After the customer analyzed the wiring between the control system and the actuator, located and solved the problem. The machine was turned on and running again, and through more than 3 months of continuous monitoring, the problem did not recur. The customer's field problem was solved and the spirit dog retired.