Remote control for deck machinery

Valued for cost-effective, reliable and above all safe operation, increasingly mooring and anchoring equipment is likely to be automated and acquired as part of an integrated package from a single manufacturer. Already a major supplier of many individual items of equipment such as low voltage switchboards and other items such as power management equipment, Rolls-Royce is increasingly acting as a prime contractor for integrated ship systems, providing complete packages including deck machinery. As a spokesperson for Rolls-Royce explained, as ships grow more complex systems and commercial pressures lead to ever downward pressure on operating costs ? and thus to the use of smaller crews wherever possible ? reliable automation has become essential. This challenges the supplier to provide bridge and engine room displays that can provide the ship?s crew with all of the vital information in a way that minimises the risk of information overload. Thus, Rolls-Royce UMAS automation systems are now routinely used to not just for alarm and monitoring, cargo control, tank sounding, power pack control, passive stabilisation, and power management, but also to control deck machinery. Remote controls for machinery such as winches are an important part of the ship system, says Rolls-Royce, particularly on ships such as offshore service vessels where the operator has to work the winch and propulsion units simultaneously, and the controls need to fall readily to hand. In the tanker market, Rauma Brattvaag anchoring and mooring systems from Rolls-Royce are benefiting two of the most advanced VLCCs ever commissioned and new LNG carrier tonnage on order for leading operators. Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea handed over Stena?s V-MAX class 314,000dwt shallow draught, double-hulled tankers Stena Vision and Stena Victory in April and June this year. The innovative tonnage for the Swedish group?s Concordia Maritime subsidiary is now chartered to the Sun Company of Philadelphia for transporting crude to its refineries on the Delaware River. Among other major tanker operators with VLCC/ULCC newbuilding series specified with Rauma Brattvaag low pressure hydraulic systems are Hellespont Shipping Corporation, Hellespont Tankships Inc and the National Iranian Tanker Co. These projects are respectively contracted at Daewoo Shipbuilding, Samsung and Hyundai Heavy Industries yards in South Korea. Operational safety through high redundancy were paramount themes in evolving the wide-beam design which exploits a twin-skeg hull with double rudders, twin engines arranged in independent machinery rooms, and twin propellers. Each of the new VLCCs was specified with two Rauma Brattvaag combined windlass/ mooring winches from Rolls-Royce, each featuring a cable lifter suitable for 122mm-diameter U3 chain and driven by a twin-motor hydraulic unit designed for heavy duty operation. Dynamic lowering of the anchor can be executed at an impressive rate of 30m/min. Each Rauma Brattvaag shipset also embraces a pair of three-drum mooring winches and six two-drum mooring winches, each with a hoisting pull of 30 tonnes at 15m/min and 45m/min at slack rope. A spokesperson for Rolls-Royce described the requirement for the winches for the V-MAX as “strong and solid”, in terms of materials and performance. All of the mooring winches feature a gear transmission housed in an oil bath, split-type slide bearings, stainless steel-lined band brakes and a brake system of the locally-operated hydraulic fail-safe type, with a facility for setting the brakes to 60% of the mooring line?s breaking strength. Hydraulic power based on a working pressure of 45 bar is generated by a three-pump package installed forward and aft, which is dimensioned to allow hoisting by one windlass or the operation of three mooring winches simultaneously at their rated capacity. The hydraulic motors share a pedigree with drive units well proven in intensive service with offshore anchor handling vessels and deepsea trawlers and, this being the case, high safety margins and a low life-cycle cost can therefore be expected in these comparatively less arduous tanker operations. Rolls-Royce says Rauma Brattvaag low pressure hydraulic systems based on high torque motors are valued in tanker applications for their simplicity, ruggedness and smooth control of mooring operations. A dynamic braking system allows anchors and chains to be lowered at a controlled speed; and the hydraulic motor control valve secures an automatic change in speed step regulated by the tension in the mooring line. The Rauma Brattvaag winch and windlass product range is based on a modular concept allowing proven and reliable customised solutions to be configured for individual anchoring and mooring system applications. The power source can be low or high-pressure hydraulic, electric pole-changing or electric frequency-controlled drive systems. Leading operators in the LNG trades have also specified Rolls-Royce low pressure hydraulic deck machinery for new tonnage contracted to meet an anticipated boom in worldwide demand for clean fuel. The large and sophisticated gas carriers serving the market call for high efficiency and reliability from their anchoring and mooring systems. Recent orders cover systems for three 138,000m3 capacity LNG carriers booked by the Norwegian owner Bergesen from South Korea?s Daewoo Shipbuilding for delivery in 2002/2003. The shipsets for these vessels will comprise two combined Rauma Brattvaag windlass/mooring winches, each with a cable lifter suitable for 102mm K3 chain and driven by a 30-tonnes capacity double-drum mooring winch. A dynamic braking function will be incorporated for smooth and safe anchoring operations. Each outfit will also embrace five two-drum mooring winches and two three-drum winches, all with a hoisting pull of 30t at 15m/min or 50m/min at slack rope. Hydraulic power based on a working pressure of 50 bar will be generated by two power packs installed on the forecastle and aft deck. The packs are dimensioned to allow hoisting by one windlass at rated speed and pull, by both units with full pull but at reduced speed, or the operation of three mooring winches simultaneously at their rated capacity. Rauma Brattvaag anchoring and mooring systems will also benefit four LNG carriers ordered by Petronas of Malaysia from Mitsubishi and Mitsui yards in Japan, as well as a newbuilding booked by Shell/Nigeria from Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea. Other notable references for Rauma Brattvaag deck machinery include three new ro-ro ships being built for Stena RoRo at Dalian Shipyard in China, which are being fitted with Rolls-Royce with Kamewa propellers, Kamewa Ulstein tunnel thrusters, Frydenb? steering gear and Rauma Brattvaag deck machinery. The ships are being built to the Stena 4runner Mk2 design, a development from the earlier Mark 1, and the lead vessel is currently fitting out. These are capacious vessels, with 3,000 lane metres, a deadweight of 12,300t and an overall length of 195.3m. Four main engines are specified, coupled in pairs to twin screws, the power handled by each Kamewa CP propeller being about 12,000kW. For manoeuvring the two sets of Frydenbö RV700-2 steering gear are assisted by two 1,100kW tunnel bow thrusters. Robust low pressure hydraulic deck machinery has been chosen for this series of ships, in common with many other Stena vessels. Two cable lifters handle 68mm chain. The anchors can be lowered dynamically using the hydraulic motors, under brake control or, in emergency, remotely from the bridge. Also included in the deck machinery package are four self-tensioning mooring winches, each with two rope drums. Equipment packages from Rolls-Royce are also proving popular in the offshore sector, where the company is supplying packages that contribute to anchor mooring outfits on Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels. The FPSOs in question are intended for operation in Brazil?s Barracuda and Caratinga fields, and are being converted from two VLCCs, the Stena Continent and Stena Concordia. Rolls-Royce is providing windlasses, power packs, control cabins, deck cranes and 22 fairleads with chain stoppers foe the FPSOs, which are being converted at FELS Setal Shipyard near Rio de Janeiro, working closely with Jurong Shipyard in Singapore. The packages supplied for the conversion include two vertical windlasses for handling 114mm chain; two hydraulic power packs; two cabins with control systems; a deck crane to handle the chain; plus the fairleads.