Positioner can be set up in three minutes

A venerable British engineering company specialising in fluid controls has developed a smart valve positioner which it claims puts it at leading edge of 21st century technology. Wirral-based Heap & Partners, which was founded in 1866, says that its positioner can be set up in just three minutes compared to about an hour needed for a conventional installation.

Heap has joined forces with Hoerbiger-Origa, which is supplying a low-current piezo-pneumatic valve technology which allows the positioner - called Storm - to be powered from a 4-20mA loop signal with a voltage drop of 5V.

A direct-drive potentiometer with a torque-limiting clutch allows the positioner to be mounted and calibrated quickly, without needing time-consuming alignment. The device sets up the valve travel, control parameters and auto-tunes a PID algorithm to give optimum performance for the specific valve and actuator package.

The positioner is housed in an enclosure submersible to IP67 and has been certified intrinsically safe to EExia IIC T5 for use in hazardous areas - making it the only Zone 0 certified digital positioner on the market, according to Heap.