The industry's recognized authority for design, engineering and application of equipment and services in the global ocean community
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10 st / July 2014 www.sea-technology.com marine winch systems are, however, more than meets the eye, and defnitely more than just a motor and spool. The Modern Marine Winch Increasingly sophisticated cable technology, expensive high-tech payloads and a general industry desire to optimize cost-intensive shiptime have rendered the system-handling requirements for winch systems and other types of deck equipment even more critical. A closer look at a modern marine winch system will swiftly reveal the extent of technology and engineering that has gone into creating systems that are fully abreast with the advanced under- water machines they are called upon to support. Specifcally, ma- rine winches are often required to precisely monitor various op- erating conditions, such as cable payout length, tension and speed. They are designed to offer advanced features, including active heave compensation (AHC), automated profl- ing, an integrated cable cleaning system, a remote control, advanced programmable logic and a graphical user interface (GUI). Merging Winch Technology And Underwater Expertise One of the well-established players when it comes to marine winch technol- ogy systems, is the MacArtney Underwater Technology Group (Esbjerg, Denmark)— an international supplier, manufacturer and integrator of underwater products, sys- tems and solutions. MacArtney is also a dedicated and inno- vative winch supplier, designing winches and A-frames for all types of requirements. With more than 500 solutions delivered since 1986, MacArtney systems are con- U ndoubtedly, one of the most widely used types of equipment across all marine contexts and industries would have to be the winch. No matter if you are hoisting the headsail on a yacht, lowering the anchors on a navy de- stroyer, launching delicate oceanographic instrumentation, deploying and handling an ROV, operating a deepwater sea- foor drill or towing a side scan sonar, a winch is more than likely to be involved. This seemingly insignifcant and often taken-for- granted piece of machinery is simply used everywhere, and it is particularly critical for launching, handling and recovering underwater vehicles and systems. In spite of this, whenever an AUV looks for wreckage debris at re- cord-breaking depths or when an ROV successfully clamps a leaking sub- sea oil installation or discovers and identifes an ancient shipwreck not many references are made to the winch systems that facilitated and safeguarded the journey of these so- phisticated vehicles between vessel deck and seabed. These Where Winch Technology Meets Underwater Solution Expertise Optimizing Interaction Between Deck, Underwater Systems By Klaus Brix (Top) A MacArtney MERMAC winch with electric drive and active heave compensa- tion. (Bottom) MERMAC winches often form part of a complete launch-and-recovery sys- tem used by work-class ROV operators who aim to offer their clients optimal system safety and operational effciency.