Bernard Controls

Bernard Controls is a company located in Gonesse (Val-d’Oise - France) which designs and assembles electric actuators and develops the associated control technologies for automating industrial valves. Its electric actuators are installed in nuclear power plants and on equipment used in the oil and gas industry and serve to command and controlthe opening and closing of the industrial valves and sluices. To this end, their use must comply with strict standards and regulations which often vary depending on the country. “With regard to the new generation SN600 actuator, we needed to carry out vibratory aging tests in order to guarantee our customers the durability of the equipment and the absence of power line disturbances during its operation”, stated Cedric Pierfederici, head of test and qualification. “As this type of actuator can be fitted on nuclear power plants worldwide, we asked Cetim to perform meticulous tests in order to detect any disturbances to within a microsecond and no longer only those to within a millisecond.”

Extreme accuracy

Specific developments were therefore undertaken in the test procedure to meet this special requirement. As a unique characteristic of the nuclear sector, all the test and test procedures must be audited by an external firm commissioned by the end customer. The result of this process was that for the two weeks of tests supervised by Bureau Veritas, no disturbance, even to within a the microsecond with an amplitude of 70%, was detected. “We work on a regular basis with Cetim’s experts, explained Cedric Pierfederici. Besides the geographic closeness of our two entities, we are extremely satisfied with the relationship of trust established between our two companies over the years.”