Meter Proving Actuator Support: Diagnosing Cycle-Time Changes

High-speed actuator performance is critical to meter proving

Meter proving applications rely on actuators that operate quickly, consistently, and at the correct settings. These high-cycle applications are used to verify meter accuracy for product moving through a pipeline—a measurement that plays a direct role in custody transfer and determining how much product is accounted for.

Power Controls recently supported a midstream customer with Rotork actuators used in a meter proving application where actuator speed had become a concern.

The Challenge

Meter proving actuators operate at high speed and may cycle many times each day. Because the actuator’s operation is part of the proving process, changes in cycle time can be an important indicator that something in the valve or actuator system has changed.

The customer noticed that the actuators were operating more slowly than expected and asked Power Controls to help determine the cause.

How Power Controls Helped

• Power Controls worked with the customer to diagnose the change in actuator cycle time and determined that a change in the valve’s gearing was responsible for the increased cycle time.
• This helped distinguish the speed change from other potential actuator or control issues and identified the gearing configuration as the factor affecting performance.
• Power Controls also used the actuator’s onboard datalogger to provide additional insight into actuator performance.

Technical Insight: Onboard Datalogging for Predictive Maintenance

The actuator’s onboard datalogger can provide valuable operating information over time. Rather than using the data only when a problem occurs, operators can use it as a predictive maintenance tool to monitor actuator performance and identify changes that may warrant attention.

For high-cycle applications such as meter proving, this type of operating data can help the end user take a more proactive approach to maintenance.

Why Meter Proving Actuator Performance Matters

Meter proving is closely tied to the accuracy of product measurement in pipeline operations. Actuators used in these applications must operate correctly and consistently because their performance is part of the process used to verify meter accuracy.

Understanding why cycle times change—and having access to operating data that can reveal those changes—can help operators troubleshoot performance issues and plan maintenance more proactively.

Equipment & Application

• Equipment: Rotork actuators
• Application: Meter proving
• Industry: Midstream / pipeline operations
• Key considerations: High-speed operation, high cycle frequency, actuator gearing, cycle-time monitoring, predictive maintenance

What Power Controls Brings to the Application

Power Controls provides field support for actuator applications where equipment performance, configuration, and operating data are important to reliable operation. In this application, the team helped identify the cause of a change in actuator cycle time and demonstrated how onboard actuator data can support a more proactive maintenance approach.