Otto Candies Winch Refit

Rapp Hydema completed a second winch drive retrofit for Otto Candies in Houma, LA, in January 2013.  An existing Rapp hydraulic winch was converted to electric, with the addition of an Active Heave Compensation (AHC) package as well.  “Active Heave Compensation is important for our vessel operations in Brazilian waters, and the Rapp electric retrofit package has shown well with other customers,” said Brant Folse, Project Manager and Marine Engineer at Otto Candies.  Rapp has converted other hydraulic winches in recent years.  Rapp’s package includes an award-winning motor, recognized as a new, innovative technology at the 2010 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) Spotlight on Technology ceremony, and also a liquid-cooled arrangement internally.  Other components include VFDs (variable-frequency drives), energy magazines, a motor-controlling encoder, wireless remote control, and main, tension, and speed control. According to the manufacturer, Rapp liquid-cooled motor provides more kW per kilogram of weight than comparable air-cooled designs.  The motors are mounted on Rapp’s own in-house manufactured gearbox, which were developed long ago for its hydraulic winch lines.
www.rappmarine.com

(As published in the January/February 2013 edition of Marine Technologies - www.seadiscovery.com)