The industry's recognized authority for design, engineering and application of equipment and services in the global ocean community
Issue link: http://sea-technology.epubxp.com/i/639963
www.sea-technology.com February 2016 / st 37 in Bergen. The system was delivered June 2015 for the MV Bibby Athena while the vessel was in operation. The vessel is now running AHC operations up to 24 hr. a day in chal- lenging marine environments. AHC Analyzer Simulates Heave Performance The AHC Analyzer software in the Toolbox calculates the AHC capacity of existing lifting equipment, based on the specifcations of the winch. The process starts with the cus- tomer providing information about winch parameters and operating requirements for the system, such as drum and motor data, available power, type of load that will be lifted, and type of wire that will be used for the lift. The Scantrol engineers then enter the data into the AHC Analyzer simu- lation tool to generate a report with the wave speeds the winch is capable of compensating for. The report also gives the winch manufacturer an idea about what needs to be me- chanically or hydraulically upgraded on the winch to fulfll the requirements. For Bibby, no hydraulics needed to be changed to fulfll the specifed AHC performance. All that was needed was the iCON AHC controller together with the correct valve drivers. If more capacity is needed, hydraulics experts from Scan- trol's extensive network of partners can retroft the equip- ment to perform at higher speed and torque. This extra cost is considerably lower than building a new winch or crane, and will increase the operational time of a vessel dramati- cally. By using Global Wave Statistics, a database of worldwide coverage of the wave climate in 104 sea areas, the AHC Analyzer can use statistical weather data together with ves- sel simulations to relate the winch speed to different sea ar- eas in the world. This enables the customer to determine the suitable performance for their winch depending on where their operations will take place. Dynatest for Remote Testing Many AHC solutions on the market today require time consuming and complex testing after installation on board the vessel. This is not the case with Scantrol's AHC solution as it is already tested on the winch or crane in the factory workshop where there is more time for fne-tuning in a con- trolled environment compared to during sea trials. When a Scantrol commissioning engineer attends a sea trial, it is just to show the ship owner that everything works perfectly. The factory test is done remotely with the Dynatest tool so that engineers from Scantrol can supervise the process from their company offces in Bergen, keeping the time and costs as low as possible for the customer. The AHC system is sent to the vessel or manufacturer and installed according to installation drawings and procedures. The system is not complex to install, so it can be done by the customer. When installed, a complete system test is performed to rule out wiring errors or other problems. A winch character- istics test is done to ensure the right calibration and response of the winch. The test results are then added as parameters in the AHC software. A new feature in the AHC controller is the possibility to even out errors in the valves and hy- draulics by entering parameters into the system that explain the winch response in even more detail. After the winch characteristics have been entered, the system is ready for