Valve Magazine - Spring 2010

VMA NEWS

MASON ELECTED VMA CHAIRMAN, VAUGHAN IS ‘MAN OF THE YEAR’

Figures 4 and 5 Left: Torque curves of a properly configured spring-return rack and pinion actuator. Right: Constant torque curve of a double-acting actuator. Note different scales.

At VMA’s annual meeting, held last
October at The Breakers in Palm Beach,
FL, 2008/09 VMA Chairman Sam Ben-
nardo, president of AUMA Actuators,
passed the gavel to Mike Mason, execu-
tive vice president of the Fisher Division
of Emerson Process Management, to
commence his term as VMA 2009/
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LILA PHOTO
Mueller Co., was appointed to the board
following the departure of another board
member.

Phil Vaughan of Cameron-Dyna-
torque received VMA’s highest award:

2010 chairman (see “Conversation with…” on page 52 to learn more about Mason and his plans for the year).

In addition to Mason’s election at the association business meeting, Max Mitchell, president of Crane’s Fluid

2009 VMA Man of the Year Phil Vaughan, formerly of Cameron-Dynatorque

Man of the Year. The clearly surprised winner received a standing ovation and was congratulated not only by previous recipients of this prestigious award, but by a long line of friends and colleagues eager to wish him well. The award was particularly meaningful as Vaughan had just announced his upcoming retirement from the industry.

closed valve, the spring-end torque is the
available impetus to close the valve. If an
actuator is selected such that the spring-
end torque is adequate to close the valve,
then the air-break torque will, by defini-
tion, be much greater and the spring-
break torque and the air-end torque
delivered to the valve in the open condi-
tion will easily exceed the required
torques. Additionally, there will be a
comfortable margin of torque capacity
throughout the actuator’s travel.
When sizing the actuator for a given
valve, one selects an actuator/spring
combination capable of greater torque
than the torque requirement of the valve,
evaluated throughout the travel of the
valve/actuator system. Frequently, cus-
tomers specify safety-factors of 50% or
more, so that if a valve requires 1,000
units of torque, the actuator supplier
would need to supply an actuator capable
of 1,500 units of torque. This allows for
torque increase in service due to deposits
in the valve. It also gives crisper response
to incremental changes in modulating
service since the air-pressure would need
to change less in an oversized actuator to
develop enough torque difference to initi-
ate an incremental change in position.

Handling Group, was elected vice chair-
man, and Bruce Broxterman, president
of Richards Industries, was elected to
serve as program chairman for next
year’s annual meeting. Also newly elect-
ed to the VMA board are Randy Cow-
art, president, CEO and chairman of
The Wm. Powell Company, and Bob
Urbanowicz, president of Samson Con-
trols. David Linton, president of Curtiss-
Wright Flow Control, was elected to
serve another three-year term. More
recently, Greg Rogowski, president of

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Vaughan has been in the valve and actuator industry for 35 years and involved in VMA for more than 25 years. He has served on numerous committees including the Government Affairs, Actuator, Program and Membership committees, which he chaired, as well as many Industry Councils. He has also been part of the U.S. delegation to CEIR a number of times. In 1996 he was a recipient of a VMA Service Award. He has served on the VMA Board of Directors and in 2006 was chairman of the board.

New &
Improved

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LILA PHOTO

MECHANICAL BACKLASH Some engineers are concerned about the mechanical backlash between the racks and pinion, which they fear could decrease precision when using a rack and pinion actuator for modulating control with a positioner. However, the mechanical lash between the racks and pinion is extremely small. Also, the position of the valve is not inferred from the position of the pistons but from the position of the spindle, because it is mechanically coupled to the positioner, not the pistons.

Outgoing VMA chairman Sam Bennardo, as well as departing board members David Moser of DFT and Steve Twellman of Global Flow Technologies, were all recognized for their outstanding service to the association.

All components of the valve assembly move together. A ball control valve has a close and lash-free connection between the ball and the shaft. Frequently, these are splined, pinned or precision-fit, but whichever is used, the fit needs to have no lost motion. Butterfly valve shafts are pinned, and eccentric rotary valves have splined connections or the proprietary Polygon coupling. Plug valves have a one-piece plug and stem. A control valve must have no lash between the shaft and the active control element.

Outgoing VMA Chairman Sam Bennardo (left), president of AUMA Actuators, congratulates Mike Mason, executive vice president of Emerson’s Fisher Division, as Mason assumes chairmanship.