Tech File: Enhanced Active Heave Winch Control
The enhanced winch control provides a safe, efficient and reliable way of deploying water sampling equipment at depths up to 5,000 meters in even the roughest sea conditions. Photo courtesy ABB
Hawboldt Industries installed an ABB winch drive with in-built active heave compensation (AHC) software at the heart of a new winch and offshore crane for the research vessel Kilo Moana, giving University of Hawai‘i Marine Center scientists a reliable means of deploying water sampling equipment at depths up to 5,000 meters in even the roughest sea conditions.
Kilo Moana is a 60-meter Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull (SWATH) ship owned by the U.S. Navy and operated by the University of Hawai‘i Marine Center, built to conduct a variety of tests at sea. One of the vessel’s main activities is to carry out conductivity, temperature and dissolved oxygen (CTD) ‘casts’ at depths of up to 5,000 meters in the mid-Pacific Ocean. During a cast, the CTD package, weighing around 900 kilograms, is lowered from the deck of the ship into the water. In addition to sensitive pressure and temperature sensors, the package includes 24 bottles that collect water samples at various depths.