Gas actuators use gas pressure to move a piston or similar mechanism for actuation. They are used in industries with a ready supply of gas, such as oil refining, and can provide linear or rotary outputs. Gas actuators are used in hazardous environments where personnel cannot operate mechanisms. They require a high-pressure gas source to operate and can be piston or scotch yoke type. Gas over oil actuators use hydraulic oil compressed by high-pressure gas. Gas actuators are also used in fire and explosion extinguishing systems.
A gas actuator is a pneumatic device that uses gas pressure to move a piston or similar mechanism to provide actuating motion. Most gas actuators are used in industries such as oil refining where a ready supply of natural gas is available as part of the system process. Some variants, however, use a captive gas source in applications such as blast suppression. Gas operated actuators use gas alone as a motivator or a combination of gas and hydraulic fluid. These devices can, depending on the design and scope of the application, provide linear or rotary actuation outputs.
Actuators are devices used to remotely operate or switch a secondary mechanism. They are typically used in applications where the actuated mechanism is a long distance from personnel locations, where a large number of mechanisms are involved, or in hazardous environments which preclude proximity to the operator. All actuators require a source of power to operate and in the case of the gas operated actuator, this comes in the form of a high pressure gas. The gas is used to press against a piston or vane, which moves as a result. This motion is leveraged to provide the required actuation.
Most gas operated actuators are used in systems where there is a ready supply of high pressure gas as part of the normal process. A good example of this type of application is the oil and natural gas refining industry. In these applications, gas operated actuators are used extensively as actuators for valves and process machinery with the source of gas activation often being taken directly from the line on which the valve or mechanism is located. The high pressure nature of the gas, often exceeding 1,000 pounds per square inch (PSI), makes the gas actuator one of the most powerful types of actuator, with output ratings often exceeding one million pounds of an inch. These high horsepower ratings are generally required to operate valves in the aggressive, high pressure systems involved.
Strictly speaking, a gas actuator only uses gas as its power source. The term is, however, often applied to gas over oil actuators. These devices use a high pressure gas source to compress hydraulic oil, which is then used to operate the actuator mechanism. The identifier is also used to describe a family of captive gas actuators used in fire and explosion extinguishing systems. These actuators are single-cycle devices that use a small captive gas cylinder to instantly deploy suppressants in the event of a fire or explosion.
The gas actuator outputs can be supplied as linear or rotary motion. Piston type actuators are used to generate straight or linear outputs, while scotch yoke type actuators provide the rotary motion. Rotary actuators are usually of the quarter-turn type and are used to operate high pressure butterfly valves.
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