Woodward, Inc.

John J Been

Jonathan P Workman

Kevin E Greeb

Philip A LaFleur

Michael S Zrubek

The subject matter of this specification can be embodied in, among other things, a fluid actuator system including a fluid actuator having a housing having an inner wall defining an interior cavity, a piston having a piston head configured for reciprocal movement within the interior cavity, the piston head contacting the inner wall and dividing the interior cavity into a first fluid chamber and a second fluid chamber, a first valve configured to control fluid flow between the first fluid chamber and a bypass conduit, and a second valve configured to control fluid flow between the bypass conduit and the second fluid chamber.

On-line verifiable trip and throttle valve actuator

Embodiments of the invention provide a high-reliability, cost-effective electro-hydraulic servo-valve assembly that is not susceptible to failure caused by contaminated fluid. In particular embodiments, the electro-hydraulic servo-valve assembly includes a rotary valve that may be actuated by either a direct-coupled Limited Angle Torque (LAT) motor, a geared, brushless DC motor, or some other rotary electric actuating element with an integrated driver circuit. In particular embodiments, the rotary valve element made up of an outer sleeve element and an inner spool element, with matching ports and slots, respectively.

High-flow electro-hydraulic actuator

A trip block is provided. The trip block includes a single housing which commonly houses multiple valve assemblies. Each valve assembly includes a rotary valve member arrangement. The rotary valve member arrangement includes a spool and a sleeve with a predefined radial clearance between the spool and sleeve.

High reliability high flow redundant trip block

A high speed, fail-safe device for an electric actuator that can be independently triggered in the event of an emergency shutdown is provided. An electromagnetic brake is attached to the roller nut of the screw actuator. When actuated, the brake prevents rotation of the roller nut, and therefore enables linear movement of the roller nut upon rotation of the lead screw to linearly move an output shaft to actuate the valve. During actuation a return spring is compressed to enable retraction of the output shaft upon system failure. During such failure, the electric break is de-energized, which allows the roller nut to rotate and linearly move under force of the return spring to retract the output shaft to its fail-safe condition. A soft-stop/over-travel system is provided to limit the impact loads on the lead screw.

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Fort Collins, CO, United States of America

John J Been