Word for class of equipment that applies a physical quantity on a thing

Question

I am looking for a word that describes the class of (lab-)instruments whose primary purpose is to force a physical quantity onto something. This should be different from instruments whose primary purpose is to measure a physical quantity. (Many instruments which can force a physical quantity can also measure it, this is why I only classify by the primary purpose)

Examples members of this class could be:

• A Power supply applies a voltage to an electrical node.

• An Electronic Load draws a constant current out of an electrical node.

• A Thermal chamber forces a temperature to the environment a thing sits in.

• A centrifuge applies a centripetal force to a thing.

I thought of "Measurement Instrument" but for me that sounds to specific to instruments that measure something. I also thought about "Source" or "SourcingInstrument", but that sounds too electrical engineering specific (plus "Source" doesn't really fit to the Electronic Load example, as Loads sink a current instead of sourcing a current). Best that I could come up with is "ForcingInstrument". But maybe someone has a better suggestion.

Intended use

In Software development, to name the parent/interface class for those kinds of instruments.

Example usage

"Physical quantities can be measured by classes that implement the MeasurementInstrument interface and can be forced by classes that implement the Interface. Classes can implement both the MeasurementInstrument as well as the Interface, if they can measure and force a physical quantity."

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Edit

I gave a pretty abstract description, here is some clarification:

With physical quantity I meant basically any physically measurable condition. Pretty much how wikipedia defines it:

A physical quantity is a physical property of a phenomenon, body, or substance, that can be quantified by measurement.[1] A physical quantity can be expressed as the combination of a magnitude expressed by a number – usually a real number – and a unit; for example, 1.6749275×10−27 kg (the mass of the neutron)

-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_quantity

A more specific example would be: "A Power supply is used to apply a Voltage of 5 V to a circuit node." Here 5 V would be the physical quantity of type "Voltage".

Answer 1

I am adding my comment as an answer, as per your feedback of it being applicable.

Given your very vague definitions, I'm liable to refer to these two types as getters (reading) and setters (what you call forcing). Although they are already established terms in a software development context, they fit the bill almost exactly for the definitions you've supplied.

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Further explanation

To make sure non-developers understand the answer too.

A getter is a method that gets the value of a specific property.

In other words, if you want to retrieve a value, you "talk" to the getter of this value.

A setter is a method that sets the value of a specific property.

In other words, if you want to change a value, you "talk" to the setter of this value (and give it the new value).

Linked reference for definitions.. Although this page focuses on Javascript, these terms are well defined in software development in general.