Adjusting actuator speed or flow rate often requires stopping production, opening safety guards, or accessing controlled areas. Every manual adjustment means time lost, production instability, and additional safety procedures for operators.
Modern factories need repeatable speed control, stable takt time, and a way to eliminate variations caused by manual needle valves.
Electric flow controllers provide that stability — enabling remote, precise and secure adjustment of actuator speed without touching the machine.
Why electric flow controllers matter in industrial applications
Electric flow controllers (often called digital needle valves or electric flow control valves) automate the adjustment of airflow to pneumatic cylinders and devices. Unlike conventional manual speed controllers, they enable:
- Consistent and repeatable setting by electrical input
- Consistent actuator speed across multiple stations
- Stable takt time even when production conditions change
- Remote operation, avoiding unnecessary intervention in restricted, elevated or hazardous locations
- Variable speed and variable flow control adapted to process conditions.
For industries where human access is limited — clean rooms, quarantine zones, roof spaces, guarded machines — electric flow control eliminates unnecessary downtime and improves both safety and productivity.
This includes sectors such as electronic manufacturing, food processing and pharmaceutical production, where machinery is often located in restricted or sanitised areas and requires strict contamination control.
This conventional approach triggers multiple inefficiencies and risks:
- Time lost in manual adjustments and the resulting equipment downtime
- Exposing operators or potential product contamination in sensitive or hazardous locations
- Inconsistent machine settings due to human error when adjusting multiple flow controller units
- Limited scope for digitalisation and the use of recipe-based setting or proportional control
- Delays resulting from operators accessing equipment.
Why choose SMC electric flow controllers?
The PFES Series electric flow controller is designed to simplify pneumatic speed control. It enables remote, safe, and repeatable adjustment of actuator speed without entering the machine — and without stopping production.
Built for digital-ready factories, PFES electric flow controllers combine intuitive electrical input with reliable mechanical design based on SMC’s long industrial experience.
The key benefits of the electric flow controllers:
- Remote and Safe Adjustment: Control actuator speed and device flow rate from a remote location, without accessing confined or guarded machinery or stopping the device.
- Simple Electric Control: Uses a simple UP/DOWN pulse signal (NPN/PNP) operation from a PLC or touch panel. No complex software, dedicated controller, or positioning unit is required. The electrically controlled digital needle valve adjusts in precise increments (5°, 30° and 180° ) based on pulse duration.
- Simultaneous Multi-unit Setting: Adjust multiple PFES units at the same time, ensuring consistent and reproducible machine settings and simplifying setup.
- Manual Override Flexibility: A push/pull knob allows for on-site manual adjustment (lockable) for commissioning or signal failure.
- Power-Loss Resilience: The needle valve angle is maintained even when power is OFF, meaning no readjustment is required after a power failure, ensuring production continuity.
- Grease-Free Construction: Ensures suitability for clean rooms and contamination-sensitive processes.
Additional technical benefits of the electric flow controllers:
- Four flow ranges available: small flow (1001), low flow (1002), medium flow (2002) and high flow (3002).
- Compatible gases: Air, Nitrogen (N₂), Argon (Ar) and Carbon Dioxide (CO₂). Not suitable for liquids.
- Operating pressure range: 0.1 to 0.8 MPa.
- Withstand pressure: 1.5 MPa.
- Operating temperature range: 0–50°C.
- Ingress Protection rating: IP40.
