Valve actuators look great in oak cabinets

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Aug 27, 2001

Tidal sluice gates and an ancient mill pond on the picturesque Beaulieu Estate in Hampshire are benefitting from a restoration project involving Rotork electric valve actuators

Tidal sluice gates and an ancient mill pond on the picturesque Beaulieu Estate in Hampshire are benefitting from a restoration project involving Rotork electric valve actuators.

The project, jointly sponsored by the Beaulieu Estate, the Environment Agency and English Nature, is part of a nature conservation scheme that will eventually include the renovation to working order of an associated 18th century tidal mill.

Restoration involves the replacement of five sluice gates that were installed in 1896, together with worn out electric motors and gears that had been subsequently fitted.

Rotork Retrofit engineers worked with the main contractor Osiris Marine Services to produce new adaptation and valve stems and install Rotork IQ electric actuators on the new gates.

Each gate incorporates a flap on the upstream side, enabling the rising tide in the adjacent Beaulieu River estuary to fill the mill pond.

As the tide retreats the flaps close tightly to prevent the water escaping downstream.

It can then be channelled through two underground races to power the water wheel in the mill.

The Environment Agency is also installing new flow and level monitoring equipment on the site, which will be connected by telemetry to their centralised area control room at Winchester, twenty miles away.

Data from this equipment will be used to operate the Rotork actuators, ensuring that the mill pond is kept full for nature conservation reasons, but will not flood during periods of heavy rain and very high spring tides.

The new sluice gates are constructed from traditional greenheart and oak materials, in keeping with the rural nature of the surrounding area.

In the final part of the restoration, the contemporary appearance Rotork actuators will be concealed within oak cabinets to preserve a harmonious aspect for the completed installation.