Coiling Technologies, Inc., has years of experience in developing actuators valves that control the flow of gas and fluids. Our engineers are cautious to deliver the most reliable product that will operate in even the harshest environmental conditions. We provide actuator valves that possess high tensile strength, corrosion resistance, and resistance to environmental conditions and fatigue life by using materials such as Inconel X750, high tensile chrome silicon which is best suited to operate in even the most extreme environments.
Our engineers are ready to assist your custom spring design and provide you with a cost-effective solution. Once we have made your spring, years later we can duplicate the same spring easily and accurately to ensure the quality you should demand from your spring manufacturer. This attention to detail is maintained throughout the manufacturing and inspection process.
Coiling Technologies, Inc., has implemented plans to automate virtually all stages of the manufacturing process and will continue to improve as new technologies become available. Please call us today to assist with any actuator solution needs.
Actuator Valve Springs FAQs
What does a spring do inside an actuator?
In most actuator designs the spring provides the return stroke, so the powered side moves in one direction and stored spring energy moves it back. That makes the spring the fail safe element, because a loss of air, hydraulic pressure, or electrical power leaves the spring as the only thing driving the valve or mechanism to its safe position. It also means the spring has to deliver a specified force across its whole travel and not only at one point, since seating force at the end of stroke and breakaway force at the start are both hard requirements.
What materials does CTI use for actuator springs?
CTI's actuator page names Inconel X-750 and high tensile chrome silicon, chosen for high tensile strength, corrosion resistance, resistance to environmental conditions, and fatigue life in harsh service. The split between them is straightforward. High tensile chrome silicon covers high load actuator work at ambient and moderately elevated temperature and is the more economical answer. Inconel X-750 is a precipitation hardened nickel alloy that holds load at temperatures and in corrosive media where carbon steel relaxes or corrodes, which is why it appears on process valve actuators near heat sources and in oil and gas service.
How does force curve accuracy get controlled in an actuator spring?
Rate is the number to specify, because an actuator spring's job is defined by force at several positions rather than by a single load. Rate consistency comes from control of wire diameter, coil diameter, active coil count, and heat treat condition, since all four enter the rate calculation and small variation in wire diameter has an outsized effect. Squareness and end configuration matter as well, because a spring that sits crooked in a bore loads unevenly and reads off target. Specify force limits at both stroke extremes and the tolerance you can accept on each.
What causes an actuator spring to buckle or bind in a guided bore?
Slenderness is the usual cause. Once the free length to mean diameter ratio gets large and deflection is a high fraction of free length, a compression spring becomes laterally unstable and bows sideways instead of compressing straight. In a guided bore that bow turns into contact with the bore wall or the rod, which adds friction, wears the coil surface, and creates fretting sites that start fatigue cracks. The fixes are shortening the spring and raising diameter, splitting load between nested springs, or adding a guide. Send bore and rod dimensions with the load requirement.
What makes CTI's repeatability useful on an actuator program?
CTI's page states that once a spring has been made, the same spring can be duplicated years later accurately, with that attention to detail maintained through the manufacturing and inspection process. That matters on actuator work because the assembly is usually qualified as a unit, and a replacement spring with a slightly different rate changes stroke timing and seating force. The record supporting that repeatability includes material certifications, dimensional inspection reports against drawing tolerances, load test data, and traceability back to raw material, all produced under one ISO 9001:2015 system in the Houston facility.
