The new motorized actuation of the 2030 series valve actuator (photo) is composed of an electric stepping motor (400 steps per revolution), a flexible coupling, a gear box and stroke detector. Every part of the gear box is made of stainless steel to ensure long service life. The actuator can achieve positioning speeds of up to 1.3 mm/s, and each step of the motor results in a displacement of just 1.5 µm. The use of a 12-bit a.c./d.c. converter and a special interpolation process makes it possible to detect the position the stroke with a resolution of about 1.3 µm. — Schubert & Salzer Control Systems GmbH, Ingolstadt, Germany