Velan ABV news

Duke Tran, Executive Vice-President, General Manager, Severe Service, Nicola Lucchesi, Product Manager Velan ABV and Nicolas Lourdel, Manager, Design, recently travelled to New Caledonia to present to Vale Goro the unique solution that can offer the integration of the Velan ABV Cable Drive Actuator with the Metal Seated Ball Valve product designed by Velan Inc.

A collaborative initiative

In February 2018, the visit of Vale Goro and Callidus New Caledonia has been the opportunity for Duke and Nicolas to better understand the HPAL customers’ issues with standard Scotch Yoke actuation. Limited output torque at mid-stroke, wear of sliding components in dusty and corrosive environment, water infiltrating the body during heavy New Caledonian tropical rain, unbalanced actuator, and difficulties to lift the package valve and actuator are some of the issues faced by the customers. HPAL plants can be shut downed for maintenance every 4 to 6 months. Therefore, the ease of assembly and disassembly are key criteria for such valves.
Back to Montreal, a meeting with Velan ABV is organized and a solution that addresses all above issues is developed collaboratively. 
One month after the site visit, the presentation of the solution to Vale Goro led to an order for two Velan ABV Cable Drive Actuators. The two actuators will be installed on the Velan Securaseal N-Series NPS10 #600 and NPS12 #300 valves in March 2020. The Velan ABV Cable Drive Actuators supplied to Goro have been specifically designed for the tropical, corrosive and dusty conditions.
“This is the first time Velan has integrated and brought to market two Velan products from two different divisions at Velan.” said Duke. 
Understanding the unique advantages that the package Velan Securaseal N-Series + Cable Drive actuator can provide to the HPAL market, Velan Inc. offered a similar combo to two recent HPAL RFQs and won the orders. “This led to an acceleration of the collaboration between the two Velan entities and, as a result, the Velan Inc. and Velan ABV  Engineering groups spent one week together in Montreal in January 2020 to work on the standardization of the package and interface between the two products.” said Nicolas. 

Non-exhaustive list of Velan Inc. and Velan ABV employees involved in the standardization of the package and interface between the two products.

Velan Inc.: Yves Lauzé, Duke Tran, Valentin Irunca, Zakaria El Yacoubi, Romeo Dumitrache, Martin Caouette, Alfredo Costantini, Christian Beguian, Vinh Nguyen, Luc Vernhes, Hicham Guessous Doss, Cristina Voicescu, Kathy Conklin, Michael Zablotsky, Ryan Lafrance and Nicolas Lourdel
Velan ABV: Nicola Lucchesi, Fabio Lapini, Nicolo Del Barga and Marzia Sciabbarrasi.

Benefits of this integrated solution

• Modular construction for maximum flexibility.

The actuator can be offered with Hydraulic or Pneumatic supplies and in Single or Double Acting configurations. This allows for covering a large range of the Securaseal valves in HPAL service.

• Longer Life & Linear Torque Characteristic

The actuator provides up to 40% of more torques along the stroke with the same envelope than a standard scotch yoke actuator. This is key in HPAL service where acidic slurry is discharged from 940 psi to atmosphere.

• Easy installation

By aligning the center of gravity of both products, the package valve and actuator can be easily handled and oriented in different positions.
The 4 lifting points of the actuators are specifically sized to lift the Securaseal N-Series valves. 

• Easier maintenance 

Only one company for maintenance

Vale Goro, Callidus New Caledonia and Velan

Vale has approximately 300 Velan valves in service in 3 different trains (i.e., 3 different autoclaves). Out of the 300 Velan valves installed at Goro, 152 valves are equipped with actuators from a different supplier. They were installed in 2007-2008 and Callidus New Caledonia is servicing this end-user.