Bosch Rexroth has won the 2021 Hermes Award, presented annual at Hannover Messe to honor outstanding achievements in global product development. The award was presented on April 12 as part of this year’s Hannover Messe digital event.
The Hermes Award jury presented the award to Bosch Rexroth for its SVA R2 (Subsea Valve Actuator), the world's first electrical actuator for controlling process valves underwater.
The Hermes Award press release states, “the SVA R2 offers an energy-efficient and safe alternative to the actuators previously used in offshore oil and gas production. SVA are self-sufficient assemblies with their own fluid circuit and a variable-speed pump drive. The central unit and the kilometers of lines for the fluid are no longer required. This also greatly minimizes environmental risks. The SVA only require a power supply and a data line. A displacement control regulates the flow rate from the speed with almost no loss. This simplifies the construction and increases the energy efficiency significantly.
“When it comes to sustainability, innovations play a crucial role in achieving disruptive progress,” said Thomas Fechner, senior vice president, product area new business at Bosch Rexroth. “With the SVA R2, Bosch Rexroth offers a completely new solution for the process industry. For the first time ever, users can replace conventional hydraulic cylinders with electrical actuators with field-proven safety systems and take up no extra space.”
The SVA R2 Subsea Valve Actuator opens and closes valves in process systems. Up until now, this task was usually performed in subsea factories by hydraulic cylinders which had to be supplied by hydraulic lines several kilometers in length. Previous attempts to replace them with electrical actuators failed because they required more space, the emergency power supply using batteries was too expensive and it was not possible to integrate field-proven safety systems.
A team of developers at Bosch Rexroth rose to these challenges with a disruptive innovation. For the first time ever, the SVA R2 Subsea Valve Actuator combines an electrical drive, field-proven safety systems and a motion control system and takes up no more space than the hydraulic cylinders normally used. The module is designed for subsea use at depths of up to 4,000 meters.
"With the SVA R2, the developers at Bosch Rexroth combine economic and ecological aspects into a sustainably innovative product for the maritime process industry,” said Hermes Award jury chair and Fraunhofer president, Professor Reimund Neugebauer. “With the Subsea Valve Actuator, existing electrical supply lines for sensors are sufficient for reliable operation of the actuators. The small dimensions and integrated interfaces provide industry with another advantage, because they enable the new actuator to be used and retrofitted in existing systems."
“Bosch Rexroth is a longtime exhibitor at Hannover Messe and always impresses with its innovations. The winning product is another milestone and stands for high-tech in connection with environmental protection. The company is thus making a major contribution to sustainability, one of the key topics at the Hannover Messe Digital Edition," said Dr. Jochen Köckler, CEO of Deutsche Messe AG.