[OpenTRV-dev] The news !

[Bruno Girin]

On 22/03/13 09:11, Stuart Poulton wrote:
>> Things like this I suppose:
>> http://www.oriental-motor.co.uk/Products/Linear_rotary_actuators/Linear_actuators/
>> or http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/electric-linear-actuators/3831273/
>>
>> Compact and simple, would be great but the prices are ludicrous and very
>> few models are low voltage. For example, if you look on RS, only three
>> of them are 5V or 5.6V, all others are 12V+. That's why I think the most
>> difficult part of the valve module will be the mechanics.
> Ok, looks interesting. A couple of issues.
>
> 1 - Drive electronics from a battery may be difficult
> 2 - No way to sense if the motor is stalled (ie reached the end of valve travel)
> 3 - Price, that would by 2 of my 'dumb' units.

Yes. I agree on all of those. The concept of such motors is cool as they
are very compact but they would only be an option if we could address
the issues you raise.

Then again, #3 may not be such a hurdle: you could always have multiple
options with a very compact option using one of those: more expensive
but designed for specific situations. For example, the radiator in my
kitchen is fitted in such a way that any TRV significantly bigger than
the basic mechanical models would not fit so should I want the whole
house fitted with smart TRVs, I would expect to have to pay more for a
very compact model for the kitchen while having more standard models
everywhere else.

Bruno