New AUMA Actuators Keep Water in Welsh Town’s Taps Flowing

Published: 28th February 2024 | Issue 90

Water supplies to over 3,000 residents in the Welsh seaside town of Tywyn will continue to flow uninterrupted thanks to new state-of-the-art, remotely controlled electric actuators installed by AUMA Actuators Limited.

AUMA Actuators Limited supplied 15 of its unique PROFOX-Q part-turn electric actuators, which are fitted to existing butterfly valves at Penybont Water Treatment Works. The actuators are part of ongoing investment by Welsh Water at its Penybont Water Treatment Works in the village of Bryncrug, north Wales. The water treatment works supplies drinking water to the coastal town of Tywyn in Southern Snowdonia on the Mid Wales coast, and surrounding area.

Paul Hopkins, Managing Director, AUMA Actuators Limited explains: “Welsh Water experienced issues with units at Penybont Water Treatment Works and contacted AUMA for a fast track solution. Over a two-week period our experienced engineering team attended site, removed redundant equipment and installed, tested and commissioned 12 new PROFOX-PFQ150 and three PROFOX-PFQ-80 part-turn actuators.

“The beauty of the new PROFOX actuators is that they can be controlled and performance monitored remotely, meaning that Welsh Water’s maintenance team can interact with the units from control rooms, rather than having to go out and visit each unit. That’s a big time and cost saving.”

AUMA also designed and manufactured three wall-mounted remote-control panels. All field wiring and actuator wiring was connected to the panels using a din rail mounted terminal, with

wiring terminations within the panel connected with appropriate bootlace crimped terminations. Each panel includes a local control remote switch to allow local control at the panel and remote control from SCADA controls. The panel doors provide local indication for fault, open and close via provided LED cluster bulbs.

PROFOX high-performance actuators incorporate a number of innovative features and are aimed at applications requiring fast and precise positioning, utmost flexibility and future-proof interfaces. Built-in intelligence makes PROFOX equally suited to both simple open-close applications and challenging modulating applications. Variable motor speed ensures fast and precise positioning without overrun, whilst soft start and soft stop functionality increases valve lifetime. Operating costs are low, thanks to high mechanical efficiency and low standby consumption. Innovative diagnostics ensure long-term availability and future-proof PROFOX actuators for IIoT applications.

AUMA PROFOX actuators work with gate, butterfly, ball and globe valves. There are multi-turn versions for torques of 10–100 Nm and part-turn versions delivering 32–600 Nm. Modular design ensures flexible configuration, rapid delivery and consistent operation. PROFOX actuators support the most common communication protocols.

The PROFOX range is engineered and built in Germany and designed to last, even under the toughest operating conditions. High-quality metal housing with IP67 protection (IP68 optional) and AUMA’s unique corrosion protection, which meets the highest C5-M/C5-I requirements of EN ISO 12944-6, ensure that PROFOX actuators have a long life at temperatures from –30 °C to +70 °C.