This valve tester fixture was mechanically designed to minimize human interaction in order to conduct the critical angle test autonomously. The critical angle test measures the angle at which the valve stem of a ball valve has to rotate before 0.5 mL/min of water flow rate is detected through the valve. Since Belimo already had their own testing frame rack, the design had to be as lightweight and corrosion resistant as possible, as the components would be interacting with water while simultaneously fitting within a constrained space, as shown in the setup above.
The components of the subassembly were selected in order to automate the tedious process of measuring angles of the valves. The actuator chosen was of the model GRCX24-MFT and was provided to us by Belimo. Using this actuator makes our design modular as it allows for future testing for Characterized Control Valves (CCV) of up to 2 1/2 inches in diameter, although our current test is for 1/2 inch CCV's. We also have a A50H-2048-HZCP9-RL2 fully hollow incremental encoder in order to measure our leakage angle. Finally, we have a Bronkhorst L23 flowmeter in order to detect the 0.5 mL/min flow rate through the valve.

