Choosing a Linear Actuator: Most Important Things to Consider

by | Nov 11, 2014 | Technology Featured

There are steps involved in selecting a Linear Actuator. However, various reasons prevent a user from following all the necessary steps. The reasons vary from unavailability of time to limited choices. However, following the right steps is important because it leads to selection of the best Linear Actuators and provides for important issues such as power requirements, efficiency, durability and the duty cycle. 13966848226Linear-Actuator-PA-02 13966849255Mounting-Brackets-BRK-15-actuatorzone_-1

 

Power requirements

When looking for a replacement actuator, it is important to consider the power requirements and output. A replacement actuator needs to correspond to the previous one. In addition, the new actuator may have new features to overcome problems detected with the previous one. To determine the power output requirements is an easy step because it simply requires knowledge of the force to be moved and the speed it is to be moved. From this step, the value of power, in watts, is a product of the required speed and the force to be moved (in Newtons). After obtaining the output required, the next step is to purchase an actuator with the same power ratings.

Duty cycle

A duty cycle tells a user the amount of time taken by an actuator between two operations. A duty cycle is set to reduce inefficiency caused by heat. Therefore, the component of an actuator susceptible to heating in operations determines the duty cycle of an actuator. The duty cycle affects the power output of an actuator. For example, if an actuator takes ten seconds for an operation and forty seconds before the subsequent operation, the duty cycle is 10/(10 + 40) 0r 20%. The factor implies that if a person requires an output of 30 watts, they need to select one rated at 150 watts to account for the duty cycle. The following image shows the relationship between efficiency and poser.

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Efficiency and reliability

Other important factors are efficiency and durability of the actuator. Efficiency depends on the usage of the actuator while durability depends on the replaceability of the parts. It is imperative to regard all the factors when selecting an actuator for the purposes of good output from the actuators. All the listed factors depend on the user requirements and preference of the user.