Linear Piston

Actuators
..................................................

By Sekhar Samy, CCI,

and Dave Stemler, CCI

21st AOV Users’ Group Conference •

Winter 2002, January 9-11
Clearwater Beach, FL, USA

22591 Avenida Empresa

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688
949.858.1877 w Fax 949.858.1878 w ccivalve.com
521 | 10/02 w ©2002 CCI w DRAG is a registered trademark of CCI.
Linear Piston Actuators
n Sekhar Samy, Control Components Incorporated, Rancho
Santa Margarita, California, USA; and Dave Stemler, Control
Components Incorporated, Rancho Santa Margarita, California,
USA.
21st AOV Users’ Group Conference, Winter 2002, January 9-11,
Clearwater Beach, FL, USA
Introduction
H igh Reliability of actuation is of paramount importance in the
nuclear power industry. Pneumatic actuators form the largest
installed base with many in safety significant applications. This paper
addresses the issues related to actuation, such as available Thrust,
Stiffness, Sensitivity, Hysteresis, Dead band, Dynamic Stability and a
sizing example.
This paper will also present comparisons between various types of
linear actuators and their relative advantages and disadvantages. Also
presented will be evaluation techniques for troubleshooting actuator
problems and improving plant performance.
Actuation Requirements
In a nuclear power plant typically 90% of the control valve
actuators are pneumatic. Hence, it is not surprising that the AUG
and its participants expend considerable time in studying pneumatic
actuators. The reason pneumatic actuator are widely used is primarily
due to the fact that compressed air readily provides a large source of
available power for valve actuators. Most valves do not move at once
so the total power requirements at any given time in a plant can be
easily met. Most importantly, this ready source of stored energy is also
available during short-term outages.
In critical service valve applications, in addition to reliable operability
there are other important considerations:
n Repeatable Tight Shutoff
n Optimal controllability during normal operating conditions
(Resolution)
n Good controllability during transients
n Environmental Qualification
n Compact with a low center of gravity, and a high weight to thrust
ratio for seismic considerations
n Stroke Speeds
2 Linear Piston Actuators | 521
Operability of an actuator in a general sense just means that it can be
actuated when required to do so. It does not ensure that any of the
important criteria listed above has been carefully considered before
selecting an operator.
Repeatable tight shutoff
There are no consistent guidelines for achieving the required level
of tightness within the valve industry, so it is imperative that the
user spell out quantitative criteria in ensuring that the actuator has
sufficient thrust. In an ideal situation with perfectly machined seating
surfaces even a small positive force is adequate for tight shutoff.
This is not the case in real world applications, where there are
manufacturing tolerances. Over time a sealing surface goes through
normal wear and tear and would quickly deteriorate to allowing more
leakage then desired. So while a valve may leak test to the specified
class in the shop in mint condition, it may not provide the specified
shutoff after some use. The important quantitative criterion is Pounds
of thrust per Lineal Inch (PLI) of seating circumference. In the valve
industry this value for an ANSI/FCI 70.2 Class IV shutoff varies from
40 to 400 PLI.
Just such a wide variation suggests that sufficient conservatism is
necessary based on empirical study of contact stresses between sealing
members and field observations. The Instrument Society of America
(ISA) Guide (Ref 1) recommends a value of 300 PLI for Class IV
shutoff.
Optimal Controllability
It is often overlooked that control valves are final control elements
in process control. The best control systems cannot make up for
limitations of a control valve. Small hysteresis and dead band,
quick response to small changes in input signal are all key to good
performance. The quantifiable measure for fine controllability is
Resolution.
Resolution is defined as the smallest possible change in position of
the control valve. When a valve is asked to change position from a
steady state of zero stem velocity, what is the smallest incremental
travel possible? To answer this question the valve actuator system is
modeled as an elastic spring mass system and analyzed. The smallest
change in force is due to change from the static to dynamic friction as
the valve makes a change in position. The friction under consideration
is due to valve plug piston seals, valve packing and actuator seals.
Dynamic friction is smaller than static friction (Ref 2).
©2002 CCI. All rights reserved.

The elastic system is simply as spring mass system that can be
modeled using the equation of motion for a Single Degree Of Freedom
(SDOF) system. The “spring” has a pneumatic component (trapped air
in actuator) and a mechanical component (compression spring). So the
smallest change in a control valve position is:
How does the “resolution” translate into better controllability? The
step change in the flow capacity corresponding to the smallest change
in position that the actuator can accomplish can be determined by
determining the slope of the Valve Capacity “Cv” versus Lift curve at
the point of interest (i.e., Lift).

∆X =
Fstatic - Fdynamic

Ksystem
(1)
∆Cv =
( ooCv )
x
∆X (3)

where, By substituting the resolution of the actuator from equation into

equation , the fractional change in valve capacity ∆Cv is determined.
Fstatic = Summation of static friction forces, such as, packing, seals Next, by using the ISA sizing equations one can calculate the actual
and piston rings flow change possible with a given actuator.

Fdynamic = Summation of dynamic friction forces, such as, packing, In Appendix B, we have presented a calculation showing how to
seals and piston rings perform resolution calculations in a typical feedwater regulator
application. Poor control, high vibration and pressure swings are
Ksystem = Summation of pneumatic and mechanical stiffness at the
endemic of this application. In this application, high rangeability and
valve travel of interest
fine resolution are required to maximize control. Long stroke lengths
For a valve stroke with total stroke “H”, in terms of percentage and a stiff actuator is the key to performance enhancements. The
resolution equation may be rewritten as follows: authors use such calculations to diagnose control problems in actual
plant applications.
Fstatic - Fdynamic 1
∆X = 100%
H The pneumatic stiffness of a typical double-acting piston actuator
Ksystem
(2)
easily allows positioning accuracy’s of 0.5% where required; in
comparison, positioning accuracy’s of a diaphragm actuator ranges
from 2% to 5%.
It is clear from equation that larger the “stiffness” of the actuator,
smaller its resolution. With smaller resolution better process control is Controllability under Transient Conditions
possible. Similarly, longer the stroke smaller the resolution.
Operability under transient conditions, whether they are fluid
Appendix A, derives the expression for the stiffness of a pneumatic flow related buffeting forces or a system related pressure transient
spring diaphragm actuator and a piston actuator. phenomenon - a piston actuator would be better able to resist such
forces due to its inherent high stiffness. If one could estimate the
For a spring diaphragm actuator it is magnitude and waveform of the transient pressures, it is possible to
study its effect on the controllability of the valve.
Kd = γ A PL
+Kspring
LL Environmental Qualification
(14)
Environmentally qualified actuators must withstand high ambient
temperatures, radiation, high mechanical stresses due to vibration or
And the lowest stiffness at a given supply pressure occurs when LL = fast actuation, seismic loads and finally any Design Basis Events.
H. For a double acting piston actuator the stiffness is
Piston actuators feature a high thrust to weight ratio because they
can operate at higher supply pressures. This also helps to keep the
PU PL + Kspring
Kp = γ A design compact without much overhanging mass, which will reduce
LU + LL
(15) the natural frequency of the actuator-yoke system. Higher natural
frequency system is desired when the valve is designed to withstand
seismic loads.
The lowest stiffness generally occurs when LU = LL. Refer, to the
The only elastomers in a piston actuator are o-rings, which are robust
Appendix A for the nomenclature and figures. The piston actuator is
because the stresses on the o-rings are quite low. Diaphragm actuators
definitely stiffer when compared to a equivalent spring diaphragm
with fabric reinforced diaphragms are under higher stresses and
actuator.
typically fail at the bolt holes due to high stress concentrations.

©2002 CCI. All rights reserved. 521 | Linear Piston Actuators 3

ENHANCING SYSTEM PERFORMANCE
A pneumatic actuator’s performance can improve by the simple
addition of a positioner. But in valves with high seal friction a
positioner would only exacerbate control problems. An important
element for improved control stability is actuator stiffness. Actuators
with insufficient stiffness can be adversely affected by process
dynamics, which will tend to contribute to control instability,
especially in fast response systems such as pressure control. This
is best understood by looking at the natural frequency of a SDOF
system.
Ksystem g
fn = 1
2 F
(4)
Where,
fn = Natural frequency of the system, Hz
g = Acceleration due to gravity, 386 in/sec2
F = External Load moved by the actuator, lbf
Ksystem = Stiffness of the actuator pneumatic + spring system, lbf/in
If an actuator with a low natural frequency, is trying to respond fast it
will become unstable as its velocity ramp rate gets closer to its Time
Period. In other words, if an actuator tries to reach its final velocity
from rest within its Time Period, it will become unstable. The Time
Period of a system is defined as Ts = 1/fn seconds.
Figure 1: Ramp Velocity Profile
The velocity profile of a actuator is shown in figure 1. The system
ramps up to a final velocity then travel at the constant final velocity
and ramps down as the actuator reaches its final position. A first order
system reaches 99.8% of its final value in six Time Periods. So the
ideal time required to reach the final velocity desired should about 6
times the Time Period of system, i.e., Tr > 6Ts
Actuators with lower stiffness and equipped with volume boosters
for fast stroke speeds are prone to oscillatory problems. Any attempts
to speed up a system makes the system Time Period impede the
4 Linear Piston Actuators | 521
transmission of the force to the load and instead tend to excite the
“spring-mass” system.
The advantage of a piston actuator with its higher Stiffness,
consequently larger natural frequency or smaller time constant
becomes evident.
Even slow processes such as level control will benefit from better
stability, shortened settling time and better control stability when
positioners are used. If a diaphragm actuator is used without a
positioner, it must use a specific range spring and bench-set for the
application. Any change in the application parameters will require
re-calibration of the bench set. Due to bench set an actuator without
a positioner may not use all of its signal range of 3-15 signal or 6-30
psig, hence reducing its effectiveness in controlling the process.
Diaphragm actuators are widely used in nuclear power plants. While
they provide good performance in many applications, there are some
critical applications where they have shortcomings. One of the major
concerns is the non-linear change in effective area of a simple flat
diaphragm. This has in some cases resulted in over estimation of the
available actuator thrust, which can be a serious problem in safety
significant applications. The simple flat diaphragms are not capable
of providing long strokes, but this is somewhat remedied by using
a “rolling” or molded diaphragm with a large fold. Still they do not
come close to what a piston actuator can offer in large stroke lengths.
The wall thickness of the stamped housings and the strength of the
diaphragm itself limit the supply pressure to the diaphragm actuators.
The upper bound for diaphragm actuators is around 60-80 psig on the
average, while the piston actuators are routinely designed to operate at
150 psig.
Misapplications of linear actuators to Gate valves are significant
because quantifying the required force accurately, problems due to
pressure locking thermal binding are significant as is evidenced by
NRC Generic Letter 89-10 and Information Notice 96-08 respectively.
The large seating and un-seating forces require special dampening
devices to prevent damage to the backseats.
These gate valves retrofitted with the system media operated actuators
now offer the most reliable solution. They use piston actuators except
the power source is the system media itself. They provide such a large
thrust margin that all concerns for accurately estimating wedging and
un-wedging forces under a variety of scenarios become unnecessary.
REFERENCES
1) Borden G., Friedmann P. Editors, 1998, “Control Valves
– Practical Guide of Measurement and Control”, Instrument Society
of America, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA
2) Ludema K., 1996, “Friction, Wear, Lubrication – A Textbook in
Tribology” CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, USA
©2002 CCI. All rights reserved.
 Comparison of Actuator Types

ATTRIBUTE PNEUMATIC PISTON SPRING DIAPHRAGM ELECTRIC MOV ELECTRO- SYSTEM MEDIA
HYDRAULIC OPERATED

©2002 CCI. All rights reserved.

Service Type Throttling, On-Off Throttling, On-Off Low Duty Throttling, Throttling, On-Off On-Off
On-Off
Thrust Capability Medium to High Small to Medium Very High Medium to Very Very High
High
Thrust to Weight Ratio Medium Low High High High

Economy for built in Thrust Medium Low High High Very High
Output Margin
Overall Dimensional Medium Large Compact Large Compact
Envelope

Stiffness Medium to High Low to Medium Very High High to Very High Very High

Fail Safe Spring or Volume Spring supplemented by Standby Power Accumulator As available system
Tank Volume Tank if necessary Source required media

Cleanliness of Power Source Medium Medium N/A Very High Medium

Stroking Speed Fast with Fast with accessories Slow Very Fast Very Fast
accessories

Purchase Cost Low to Moderate Low High Very High Very High

Construction Complexity Simple Simple High Very High High

Cost for Maintenance Low Medium High Very High Moderate

Required Technical Expertise Low Low High Specialized Specialized

for Maintenance

Supplier Choice Medium Very Large Small Small Small

521 | Linear Piston Actuators

5
APPENDIX A Using the Taylor Series expansion and keeping just the first two terms
in the series gives,
PNEUMATIC ACTUATOR STIFFNESS

To compute the pneumatic stiffness of an actuator, assume that the

changes in stem position occur so rapidly that there is no air supplied P1V1 γ = ( P1V1 γ +
V1 γkx
A )( 1−
γAx
V1
) (9)
or exhausted from the actuator. Such a process is adiabatic in nature.
Let the initial volume of the actuator chamber under consideration
be “V1” and the initial pressure be “P1” in absolute units. Now let Expanding the above equation
the volume of the actuator chamber suddenly change to a lower
volume “V2” and the pressure increase to “P2”in absolute units. The
relationship that defines the change is given by the following equation. γAx V1 γkx V1 γkx γAx (10)
P1V1 γ = P1V1 γ − P1V1 γ + -
V1 A A V1

P1V1 γ= P2V2γ (5)

And dropping out the term containing x2 , since x2 << 0 and
Where,
simplifying gives the expression for pneumatic “spring rate”.

γ = Ratio of the specific Heats

P1γA2 (11)
k=
Let the infinitesimal change in the piston stroke be “x”, and the surface V1
area of the piston “A”. Then the new pressure and volume can be re-
written as follows:
P2 = P1 + kx
A ACTUATOR STIFFNESS
(6)
This section derives the expression for the spring constant of a double
Where, “k” is the pneumatic stiffness (or Spring Rate) that is to acting actuator with a return spring (Figure A1) and a diaphragm with
calculated. The change in volume can be re-written as follows: a return spring (Figure A2).

In a double acting actuator both sides of the piston are filled with
air. In a diaphragm actuator one side is filled with air and the spring
V2 = V1 - Ax
(7) side is connected to the atmosphere. Notice the large volume of air
that would be trapped in the bottom of the spring diaphragm actuator
even when the valve is closed. In a piston actuator this volume is
minimized to a small value. When this fact is applied to equation it
Substituting (6) and (7) into (8) and re-arranging: is clear that smaller the volume, higher the stiffness. This makes the
spring diaphragm operator to have a lower stiffness when compared
to a piston actuator. Further, this has one other important consequence
when throttling at low plug lifts. Commonly, known as the “Bath
P1V1 γ = ( P1+
kx
A
)
(V1 - Ax)γ
(8)
Stopper Effect”, spring diaphragm operators with flow over the plug
and throttling at low lifts can slam into the seat causing severe water

( ) ( )
γ
kx Ax hammer. So most of the time they are specified as flow under the
P1V1 γ = P1+ V1γ 1−
A V1 plug. This problem does not occur with well designed piston actuators
which can have stiffness approaching very large values and can be
used in flow over the plug applications.

Depending on the bias of the positioner, the maximum pressure in the

cylinder is 2/3 to 3/4 of the supply pressure. The maximum pressure
is set by the positioner manufacturer and is usually controlled by the
clearances in spool machining. Hence it is fixed for a given model of
positioner. Some smart positioners have a value as low as 1/2 of the
supply pressure.

6 Linear Piston Actuators | 521 ©2002 CCI. All rights reserved.

The systems all behave as though they are springs connected in For a piston actuator the equivalent spring is
parallel. Hence, their stiffness can be simply summed to come up with
equivalent spring stiffness for the actuator.
PU PL
Kp = γA + + Kspring (15)
For convenience it is possible to define air “equivalent air-volume LU LL
lengths” as follows,

VU
LU = Comparing equations and it can be seen a piston actuator that
A (12)
operates at a higher supply pressure would be much stiffer when
compared to a diaphragm actuator.
VL
LL =
A (13)

for the upper and lower chambers respectively

For a diaphragm actuator the equivalent spring is

PL
Kd= γA + Kspring (14)
LL

Since, the upper chamber is connected to the atmosphere it does not

act as a spring and is not included in the above equation.

Figure A2: Fail extend piston actuator

Figure A1: Fail extend spring diaphragm actuator

©2002 CCI. All rights reserved. 521 | Linear Piston Actuators 7

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1003

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