From Hand-operated Restrictions to Smart Control Valves

75th Annual General Meeting of NAMUR at Bad Neuenahr, Germany, will take place at 8th and 9th of November 2012. (Bild: PROCESS)

This year's annual general meeting of Namur will take place in Bad Neuenahr, Germany, from 8th and 9th of November. Key issue will be actuators engineering and optimized fielding.

Leverkusen/Germany – Apart from process control systems and sensors, control valves play an important role in process automation. Control valves figure among the workhorses in process automation and influence the flow of media to control process variables, such as pressure, temperature, flow rate and filling level.

In the beginning, valves were mere mechanical devices operated by hand. Thanks to constantly enhanced and optimized mechanical components and the use of smart positioners, control valves nowadays balance rugged mechanics and intelligent functions.

Key Issue Actuators

Namur will dedicate this year's 75th Annual General Meeting to the wide topic of control valves. The meeting will take place at Bad Neuenahr, Germany on 8 and 9 November 2012 and cover a wide range of topics, starting with the beginnings of the simple, purely mechanical valves and culminating in the complex, smart control valves of our days, which have the potential of fulfilling even more process-related tasks in the future.

The Samson Group with its worldwide market presence is the partner for this year’s annual meeting. Dr. Jörg Kiesbauer, member of the Executive Board of Samson responsible for research and development, will hold a keynote speech on the development that control valves have undergone over the years.

Advanced Functions of Final Controlling Device

Today, a control valve is an assembly consisting of a valve, mostly a pneumatic actuator and accessories, such as a positioner or solenoid valve. These units are combined to achieve a modular design, yet with a complex configuration of functions, which – through thorough sizing and the careful selection of components – can provide solutions for nearly all requirements.

The use of digital positioners considerably enhanced the functions of control valves, primarily by adding diagnostic features. These diagnostics have advanced significantly and turned the control valves into highly complex mechatronic assemblies tailored to the task at hand.