The UK Royal Navy has contracted actuation solutions company Rotork to provide its latest intelligent electric valve actuators to the navy’s Type 23 frigates for rapid reaction fire protection duties.
Under the contract, the company will provide a total of 69 Rotork IQTPro actuators, which will replace the existing pneumatic equipment on butterfly valves in sprinkler systems on the ships.
The actuators will be remotely operated from a secure 115 Vac power supply to provide a real-time response to explosive hazards.
In addition, the electrical actuation eliminates the existing need for back-up air cylinders and reduces the ship’s service and maintenance workload.
Rotork IQTPro actuator features a double-sealed IP68 watertight enclosure that can be submersed to 7m underwater for 72 hours providing full-time maintenance-free reliability.
The actuator also features data loggers to maintain historical records of valve operations, including valve torque profiles.
Recorded data can be downloaded and analysed on a computer running Rotork IQ-Insight software to identify and heal any maintenance problems.
Rotork IQTPro actuators will be installed on the ship during their dockyard refit programmes.
