Actuators & Control Systems from Voith Turbo:
Building trust through reliability.

In many plants or factories, shut­downs need to be avoided under all circum­stances. For example, a shut­down in a refinery or chemical plant can easily cost the operator up to €1,000,000 a day. In the case of critical infra­structure facilities like thermal power plants, there is also the threat of serious con­sequences for the popu­lation when it comes to energy security. In this sensitive market environ­ment, Voith Turbo’s Actuators & Control Systems pro­duct line has earned a legen­dary reputation. Its pro­ducts are a bench­mark for reliability and availability.

A key component, which results in high-availability, robust hard­ware and soft­ware for the controls of gas and steam turbines, is the attitude of the team: It combines sound profes­sional expertise with a high degree of customer focus and flexibility. For outgoing General Manager Willi Zinnecker and his suc­cessor Dr. Boris Voelling, this is an im­portant factor in the company’s success.

Gas turbines, steam turbines and compres­sors that use actuators, protection equipment and control systems from Voith Turbo achieve very high ef­ficiency and operational reli­ability. With our products, virtu­ally all turbine and compres­sor control systems can be achieved – from simple, non-redundant solutions to high-availability redundant systems.

For our customers, actuators and control systems play a key role in the ef­ficient control of their gas and steam turbines: One in three steam turbines world­wide features actuating and control techno­logy from Voith Turbo. You can only achieve this kind of market share if you have earned a top-class repu­tation. In the energy sector, specifi­cally in power plant engine­ering, oil and gas and petro­chemicals – the most important market segments for actuators and control systems from Voith Turbo – you need to satisfy a large number of criteria to survive. Besides the most im­portant aspect, which is maximum relia­bility to avoid turbine and thus plant shut­downs, industry and process know-how as well as extensive ex­perience and flexibility are also crucial. “Our team is at home in this challenging market segment,” says Dr. Boris Voelling, General Manager of the Actuators & Control Systems product line at Voith Turbo.

The company’s huge market pene­tration for steam tur­bines and the excellent reputation of the pro­ducts are resulting in more and more inquiries from oper­ators of nuclear power plants. Actuators from Voith Turbo, for example I/H converters or servo motors, are there­fore increasingly playing a role in carbon-free power genera­tion. “Operators of nuclear power plants have be­come one of our most im­portant target groups,” says Dr. Boris Voelling. “Inter­nationally, nuclear power is continuing to play what is an in­creasingly important role in carbon-free electricity generation. Many industria­lized countries are moder­nizing their power plant inven­tory to ensure reliable oper­ation while enabling systems to run for longer. At the same time, there is a trend towards building new plants based on new con­cepts and techno­logies. Small modular reactors (SMR) are playing an im­portant role in this context. Regard­less of the reactor techno­logy, whether established boiling water and pres­surized water reactors or SMRs: Our products increase ef­ficiency and safety in all types of nuclear power plants.”

That Voith Turbo’s Actuators & Control Systems pro­duct line has gained a foothold even in this perhaps most de­manding market segment is also eviden­ced by the recently won Supplier Excellence Award pre­sented by clients in the USA (see below). “Our customers appreciate us or those values that we put into practice every single day,” says the new General Manager Dr. Boris Voelling, refer­ring not just to product quality but also the caliber of the company’s con­sultation service and after­market support. “Even when the order has long since been proces­sed – we do not leave our customers on their own even after de­livery and implementation, but are always approach­able, highly flexible, and respond immediately if we are needed.” In this context, the team enjoys sup­port from Voith’s worldwide sites and service workshops.

Willi Zinnecker: First of all, it’s due to the fact that we have been dealing with actuators and control systems for de­cades, and several gene­rations of Voith engineers have continuously developed the techno­logies. So reliability can­not therefore be tied down to indi­viduals but is the work of the entire team. For each of us, it’s about more than ‘just’ manu­facturing extremely reliable products.

It’s about the mindset of wanting to make a dif­ference for the customer. As well as delivering solutions that are almost techni­cally perfect, this also includes, for example, providing customers with some light-bulb in­sights when we advise them and also offering excel­lent service – no matter what day or time.

Dr. Boris Voelling: Naturally, we always want to improve. With many of the existing products we are already at a level where it would be dif­ficult and would make limited sense to make the techno­logy even more reliable. Relia­bility is about much more, as Willi Zinnecker already said. Here’s an ex­ample: With one of our light­house projects which we were recently awarded, the operator of a nuclear power plant submit­ted an inquiry for the replace­ment of the system-critical actuators. At the end of our consulta­tions, we had pro­duced a completely new technical concept that was much leaner and less main­tenance-intensive. The customer was de­lighted and would not have questioned the existing solution. It is these kinds of advisory services we mean when we talk about Voith Turbo being a reliable partner. And this also in­cludes a high level of on-time delivery, an accom­modating after-sales service, and fast response times if a service should be needed.

Dr. Boris Voelling: On the one hand, further develop­ments are making our pro­ducts even more sustainable and environ­mentally friendly. This concerns the switch from electro-hydraulic to electro-mechanical systems. Or the use of hydraulic fluids not derived from crude oil.

Looking at the bigger picture, we envi­sage great potential for im­proving the efficiency of tur­bines and reducing CO₂. This is also why we want to win over other nuclear power plants as cust­omers. The focus is not just on new reactors, but above all on existing ones. The buz­zword is lifetime extension. Finland, for example, is plan­ning to keep its reactors on the grid for 80 years instead of the originally envi­saged 40 years. This will save huge amounts of CO₂ and make a major contribution to meeting the set climate targets. In other markets too, there is a trend toward ex­tending service lives. So there’s a lot to be tackled.

Willi Zinnecker: I can underscore all those goals – and wish you every success!