Causes of AUMA electric actuator failures and troubleshooting methods

Thread Content

Since 2008, we have been manufacturing electric actuators for German company AUMA, and it’s now been 8 years. From knowing nothing at all to now having a thorough understanding of AUMA, I think few people can truly appreciate the difficulties involved! Previously, I only had a basic understanding of English; now I can use the English instructions from AUMA to guide and adjust things for customers. Sometimes, seeing the eager look in their eyes makes me feel quite accomplished! AUMA also provides considerable support in terms of debugging and after-sales service. Overall, the quality of AUMA’s products is indeed excellent. I often go to the sites for maintenance; the customers’ original AUMA actuators have been in use for over a decade without any problems. Some replace them with new ones as a precaution, but the old ones are still kept as spare parts. Although it is a German product, problems can occur, and sometimes those problems are quite strange. I’ll talk about those problems now! We often receive feedback from customers asking, \"Your protection rating is IP68 – why is there mist on the LCD display of my actuator?\\" Upon arriving at the site, it was found that no waterproof connectors were installed at the customer’s wiring connections, which allowed rainwater to flow into the actuator through the cables. Fortunately, the internal design of the actuator was reasonable, so no short circuits occurred that could have damaged the circuit board! But once, there was a customer; when we disassembled the actuator, water leaked out of it in such large quantities that it filled an entire basin. Water was present everywhere, from the control unit to the potentiometer and all the way inside the motor. Yet only the potentiometer was damaged, while the other components continued to function normally. After replacing the potentiometer’s circuit board, everything worked again as usual! It also happens from time to time that, during use, some users cause the actuator to fail to function properly due to improper operation. It’s something that happened recently on the front end: the device was installed and tested on site, and everything worked fine. However, a month later, the client informed us that the actuator could only be operated manually, not electrically, even though the motor was functioning properly. In cases like this, it’s usually a problem with the transmission components. Our AUMA system switches automatically from manual to electric mode, eliminating the need for manual operation. The electric drive shaft relies on a planetary gear mechanism; its internal structure is highly precise and it cannot be disassembled. During use, our customers, due to improper operation, switched a device that was originally in electric mode directly to manual mode. As a result, the actuator kept switching back and forth between manual and electric modes, which caused the planetary gears to get stuck and break. Situations like this are rarely encountered in normal circumstances, which places higher demands on our actuators. We need a device that can operate in electric mode without being affected by manual errors. Later on, the SQ model was developed, which completely solved the problem of errors! I also want to complain about some of the installation companies in our country. Homeowners spend so much money on expensive equipment, only for those companies to mess things up. The most serious issue is the precision of adjustment of the control valves; the dead zone is set at 0.5% both at the start and at the end of operation, but during calibration, the precision only reaches 2%–5%. It was found that nearly 1 meter of the shielding cable’s shielding mesh had been damaged, and it was even tied together with the power cables. As we all know, power cables are a major source of interference, so my suggestion is to use signal isolators! Since I started working with AUMA, I haven’t encountered many problems; most of the issues arise from human error, and such problems can always be resolved. Since we are professionals, it’s better to leave such tasks to those who are experts in this field – that way, everything is handled more reliably! :Lol, enough nonsense – that’s all for today!