Research vessels push complexity envelope
The vessel was designed and built by Teekay Holdings Australia and Sembawang Shipyard of Singapore and the scientific winch package includes six different winches with lifting capacities from 3.1 to 37.6 tonnes. All deck machinery is designed for operating in temperatures of -30° C to +45°C in conditions up to Sea State 6.
The vessel will have three winch rooms and the delivery includes a total of 180 tonnes of machinery with an installed-power footprint of 1,800kW. The electric winch package features variable-frequency drives with active front end technology. The winches are equipped with Rapp’s electronic synchronised level wind systems for easy adjustment and change in the spooling pitch. Rapp is also providing its patented liquid-cooled motor to power some winches.
Hatlapa recently achieved its first supply contract for a complete winch package to a Spanish shipyard. A vessel being built at Construcciones Navales P. Freire will have hydrographic winches with Hatlapa’s patented spooling control which minimises sideways force on the rope. The delivery follows similar packages for German research vessels such as Polarstern, Sonne, Meteor and Maria S. Merian.
