Thermal actuator is widely used in floor and ceiling radiant heating and cooling systems, air conditioning systems, radiator heating systems, and other systems that require temperature control or fluid on-off control, automatically switch the controlled loops by receiving signals from room thermostats or other electrical switches.

The working principle of thermal actuator is realized by the thermal expansion and contraction of the wax thermostatic element. For normally open thermal actuator, when the working voltage is connected, the wax thermostatic element of the actuator is heated and the closing process will be performed evenly after the stationary time is over. When the voltage is interrupted, the wax thermostatic element gradually cools down and the actuator opens after the end of the stationary time. The opposite is true for normally closed actuators. The global market is currently dominated by normally closed thermal actuators.

Global Thermal Actuator Overall Size Analysis

In 2021, the global thermal actuator market size reached $188 million. Due to the rapid growth of global natural gas price and electricity price caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, coupled with the implementation of energy-saving policies in various countries, the global procurement scale of thermal actuators will still maintain growth. Global sales of thermal actuators are expected to reach USD 215 million in 2022 and USD 450 million in 2028, with a compound growth rate (CAGR) of 11.13% from 2022 to 2028.

Under the trend of such high growth, thermal actuators in the function and appearance of a variety of design. Here are some classic styles for your reference, as shown below:

Control direction can be divided into：

Normally open:

Normally closed:

Differentiated by function.

First- Open +stroke indicator series:

Manual and automatic open + stroke indicator series:

Choosing which thermal actuator to use is one of the main problems troubling consumers today, not only in terms of quality and cost, but also in terms of whether the thermal actuator can meet the functions, maintenance and installation of the heating system used. If only from the function to make a choice, there is no doubt that the manual and open thermal actuator will be the first choice, the actuator in addition to having most of the functions of the common actuator, but also can be manually opened in the case of power failure. The following is the main introduction to the advantages of this actuator:

1. In the installation, since it can be opened manually, the installer can quickly complete the installation and system pressure test.

2. In the maintenance, also because it can be opened manually, the maintenance personnel can easily judge the working condition of each branch.

3. In some building units with centralized heating, even if the power of the house is cut off, it can be opened manually to continue to provide heating for the unit.

4. In the non-heating season, as the normally closed actuator does not work for a long time, the valve core spring and rubber parts of the valve or manifold will be squeezed all the time, which will affect the resetting of the valve's spring over time and also the life of the actuator will be greatly shortened. In this case, experienced installers will remind consumers to take the initiative to disassemble the actuator in the non-heating season, and install it again when the heating season arrives. But for the manual and automatic open actuator, this step only requires manual opening, no disassembly and installation, which is extremely easy.

5. In addition, because the manual and automatic open actuator is slowly opened and slowly closed, it will not produce water hammer phenomenon, which will greatly extend the service life of the valve and piping system.

Because of the outstanding functional advantages of the manual and automatic open actuator, decided that it requires special structural support, relatively complex and demanding process, so the current market launch of the manual and automatic open actuator purchase cost is generally slightly higher than the ordinary thermal actuator. however, as the users in the pursuit of comfortable life, and in recent years the industry of construction convenience, reliability, diversification of the increasingly high call, manual and automatic open actuator market share of the climbing growth will dilute the high out of this part of the cost, it can be expected that the manual and automatic open actuator to become the mainstream of the future market will be a probable event.