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Valve Actuator Attributes: Distributor Schema Reference

A valve actuator is the power unit that strokes a valve: pneumatic rack-and-pinion or scotch yoke, electric part-turn or multi-turn, hydraulic, or a manual gear override. Buyers are plant maintenance and reliability engineers, EPC project procurement, OEM skid builders, and the valve automation shops that mount actuator to valve in house and need the mounting kit to match on the first try.

The data is hard because torque is not a number — it is a table. A rack-and-pinion actuator's output varies with supply pressure and with angle of travel, and a spring-return unit has two curves, air stroke and spring stroke, one pair per spring set. Suppliers publish that table in a PDF sizing chart and send a single headline figure to the catalog.

Then the units diverge. North American suppliers quote inch-pounds at 80 psi; European suppliers quote Nm at 5.5 bar. NEMA and IP ratings arrive side by side. ISO 5210 and ISO 5211 share F-size names but not drive interfaces. And one body is often dual-drilled F05/F07, which a single-value flange field cannot represent.

Core

Every SKU needs these. Without them the record is not a product, it is a row.

Actuator Type
enum
Pneumatic rack and pinion

Separates the pneumatic, electric and hydraulic ranges. Drives every downstream field: air pressure applies to one, voltage and duty class to another.

Valve Motion (Travel Type)
enum
Part-turn (quarter-turn)

Part-turn suits ball and butterfly; multi-turn suits gate and globe. Determines whether ISO 5211 or ISO 5210 applies and whether stem thrust matters.

Fail Action
enum
Spring return, fail closed

What the valve does when air or signal is lost. The first field ESD and safety-shutdown buyers filter on.

Rated Output Torque
number · Nm
120 Nm at 5.5 bar

The primary sizing filter. Must be stated with the supply pressure it was measured at, or it cannot be compared between two suppliers.

Valve Mounting Flange
enum
ISO 5211 F05 / F07

Decides whether the actuator bolts to the valve. Multi-value: one body is commonly dual-drilled, and a single string hides it from half its searches.

Drive Interface (Stem Coupling)
enum
17 mm square (ISO 5211)

The bore that takes the valve stem. F-size alone does not fix it — same flange, different square, and the mounting kit is wrong.

Angle of Travel
enum · degrees
90°

90 degrees is assumed and often wrong. Three-way ball valves need 120 or 180 degrees, and damper drives have their own stroke.

Power Supply
enum · V AC/DC, or bar
24–240 V AC/DC; pneumatic 2.5–8 bar

Voltage for electric, air pressure range for pneumatic. Buyers filter this before torque, because the plant only has the supply it has.

Manufacturer Part Number
identifier
SA 07.2-F07 / AM 01.1

The number cross-referenced against the valve automation drawing and the spare parts list. Suffixes carry spring set and seal kit.

GTIN / UPC
identifier
00812345678901

Required to list on marketplaces and to match receipts against the PO. Actuator SKUs are frequently issued without one.

Country of Origin
identifier
Germany

Drives duty, tariff exposure, and Buy America / project content rules on federal, municipal and utility work.

Differentiating

What buyers actually compare on. This is where catalogs win or lose the filter.

Operating Time (rated travel)
number · s
13 s for 90°

Stroke time for the rated travel. Fast ESD closure and slow-close surge control are opposite requirements and both get specified.

Duty Class
enum
EN 15714-2 Class C (modulating); S4-25%

EN 15714-2 Class A to D, or an IEC 60034-1 duty type. A Class A on-off actuator put on a control loop overheats and fails early.

Control Signal / Command Input
enum
4–20 mA / 0–10 V; Modbus RTU

How the actuator is commanded. Decides whether the SKU can serve a control loop or only an open/close command from a PLC.

Manual Override
enum
Declutchable handwheel

Whether the valve can be stroked with no power or air. Named in most plant standards; a missing handwheel is a returned actuator.

Compliance & identifiers

Standards, regulatory data, and the identifiers channels reject you for missing.

Enclosure Protection Rating
enum
IP68 (EN 60529); NEMA 4X

IP per EN 60529 and NEMA are separate scales, not translations. Washdown, buried-pit and outdoor specs each name one of them.

Hazardous Area Certification
enum
ATEX II 2 G Ex db IIB T4 Gb; IECEx

The full Ex marking, not a yes/no. Gas group and temperature class decide whether the unit is legal on the buyer's area classification.

SIL Capability
enum
SIL 2 (IEC 61508), single actuator

IEC 61508 capability for safety instrumented functions. Without it the SKU is excluded from every ESD and burner-management RFQ.

The fields that aren't in the schema at all

What most valve actuators catalogs are missing.

The table above is the schema most catalogs already have. These are the attributes that usually aren't in it — each one surfaced by a signal from the live market rather than by an audit of what's already there. This is what Anglera's Schema Foundry does on a real catalog, in this category.

Supplier signal
+ Spring stroke torque at 0° and 90° (per spring set)

Manufacturer sizing PDFs publish air-stroke and spring-stroke torque at 0°, 45° and 90° for every spring set. Distributor records carry one headline torque and no spring set field at all.

An actuator sized on the air stroke fails to seat the valve when air fails. It gets mounted, stroke-tested, and returned as a warranty claim that isn't one.

Competitor signal
+ Supply pressure the torque was rated at

Manufacturer pages state torque against a pressure column. Distributor filter rails expose a bare 'Torque (Nm)' facet with no pressure qualifier, so a 4 bar rating and a 6 bar rating sort as equals.

Buyer picks the cheaper unit, applies it on a 4.5 bar plant supply, and it stalls against seat load. Lost trust on a repeat-buy line.

Search signal
+ Ex marking detail (gas group and temperature class)

Catalogs carry a boolean 'explosion proof' or the bare word ATEX. Buyers searching IIC or T6 get zero results even when SKUs in the range are certified for exactly that.

IIC-service buyers can't confirm suitability from the page, so they go to RFQ or to the competitor who publishes the full marking.

Supplier signal
+ Ambient temperature range / seal kit temperature class

Low-temperature (-40 °C) and high-temperature variants ship as a seal-kit suffix on the same base MPN. The catalog inherits the standard NBR range across all of them.

NBR-sealed actuator shipped for a -40 °C wellhead. It stiffens, misses stroke time, and the site rejects the shipment.

Supplier signal
+ Air volume per stroke (dm³ / scf)

Manufacturer datasheets publish displacement per stroke because it sizes the solenoid, the tubing and the fail-safe air receiver. Distributor records almost never carry it.

Undersized solenoid or tubing gives stroke times that miss the ESD spec. Fail-safe air receivers get sized by guesswork.

How Schema Foundry finds these

Messy in, governed out.

The same value, spelled every way pump, valve & process equipment suppliers spell it. A filter only works once they agree.

Rated Output Torque
1062 in-lbs1,062 in.lbs.88.5 ft-lb120 N.m120 Nm @ 80 psi12.2 kgf-m
120 Nm at 5.5 bar

US suppliers ship inch-pounds at 80 psi, EU ships Nm at 5.5 bar. Unconverted, the same actuator appears twice at different values.

Fail Action
S/RSR-FCSingle ActingNormally ClosedN/CSpring Return
Spring return, fail closed

'Single acting' is the air side; 'fail closed' is the valve state. A single-acting actuator can be fail open — they are not synonyms.

Valve Mounting Flange
F07F-07ISO F07ISO5211-F07F05/F0770 mm PCD
ISO 5211 F07

PCD-only values must resolve to an F-size, and dual-drilled bodies need both values or the SKU misses half its valid searches.

Enclosure Protection Rating
NEMA 4XNema 4/4XIP-67IP66/67WeatherproofWP
IP67 (EN 60529); NEMA 4X

IP and NEMA are separate scales. NEMA 4X asserts corrosion resistance IP67 does not; neither converts into the other.

What buyers ask

Every one of these should be answerable from the attributes above. If it isn't, that's a gap.

  • What's the spring end torque at 90 degrees — will it actually seat the valve if air fails?
  • How much torque do I get at my plant's 4.5 bar supply, not at your rated 6 bar?
  • Will this bolt straight to an F07 valve, or do I need a bracket and coupling?
  • Is it rated for modulating duty, or will the motor cook on a control loop?
  • Does the Ex marking cover IIC and T6, or only IIB T4?
  • Can I get it with a low-temperature seal kit for -40 C?
  • How long does it take to stroke 90 degrees?
  • Does it come with a declutchable handwheel, or is that a separate part number?

What channels require

The same SKU, different mandatory fields per destination.

Distributor's own site (filter rail)
Actuator TypeRated Output Torque (with rated pressure)Valve Mounting Flange (multi-value)Fail ActionPower SupplyEnclosure Protection Rating
Amazon Business
GTIN / UPCManufacturer Part NumberCountry of OriginActuator TypeRated Output Torque
MRO vendor feed (Grainger, MSC, Ferguson)
Manufacturer Part NumberGTIN / UPCCountry of OriginRated Output TorqueEnclosure Protection RatingSpec sheet PDF and product image
EPC / plant procurement punchout (cXML, OCI)
Manufacturer Part NumberUNSPSC codeCountry of OriginHazardous Area CertificationSIL CapabilityDuty Class

Valve Actuators data, in practice

Why doesn't a single torque number describe a pneumatic actuator?

Because rack-and-pinion torque varies with supply pressure and with angle. Double-acting output scales roughly with air pressure, so a unit rated at 6 bar delivers noticeably less on a 4.5 bar plant supply. Spring-return actuators have two curves: the air stroke, which falls as the spring compresses, and the spring stroke, which falls as the spring extends. Manufacturer tables publish values at 0°, 45° and 90° for each spring set. A catalog storing '120 Nm' is storing one cell of that table. Sizing on the headline figure alone is how a valve ends up not seating on air failure — the spring end torque at 90° is the number that matters, and it is the smallest one in the table.

ISO 5211 vs ISO 5210 — do I really need both fields?

Yes. ISO 5211 covers part-turn actuator attachments (ball, butterfly, plug); ISO 5210 covers multi-turn attachments (gate, globe). They share F-size names — F07, F10, F14 — and the same pitch circle diameters, but the drive is different. ISO 5211 transmits torque through a square, double-D or keyed bore. ISO 5210 uses a bore-and-keyway or a threaded stem nut with defined thrust types, and thrust rating becomes a live spec on rising-stem valves. An 'F10' value with no standard behind it is ambiguous. Store the standard and the F-size together, and store the drive interface as its own field.

Should fail action and spring configuration be one field or two?

Two. 'Single acting' and 'double acting' describe the air side. 'Fail closed', 'fail open' and 'fail last' describe what the valve does when signal or air is lost, which depends on spring orientation and on whether the valve is direct or reverse mounted. Every single-acting actuator is spring return, but a single-acting actuator can be fail open. Collapsing them into one enum — 'SR/FC' — makes the fail-open SKUs unfindable and invites the wrong part onto ESD service, where fail direction is the whole point of the purchase.

What does 'duty cycle' mean here — the percentage or the class?

Both get used and they answer different questions. Small electric actuators are quoted as a percentage (75% duty) or an IEC 60034-1 duty type: S2-15 min for short-time duty, S4-25% for intermittent periodic. EN 15714-2 instead classifies electric valve actuators by service: Class A on-off, Class B inching/positioning, Class C modulating, Class D continuous modulating. A Class A actuator on a control loop will overheat regardless of what percentage is printed next to it. Carry the class for filtering and the percentage or S-rating for engineering. One is a fitness test, the other is a thermal limit.

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