Page 40: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2005)

40 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News

K-Sea Transportation's 5,750 hp push- er tug Irish Sea was the first tugboat to be outfitted with Acomarin's new Model 700H ATB-Coupler Pushpin. The tug has been fully operational in tandem with the K-Sea's black oil tank barge

DBL155 (165,882 barrels) since March 2005.

The product is the result of Acomarin embarking on a mission to develop and deliver a new and improved ATB sys- tem. In conjunction with the Technical

Research Center of Finland VTT,

Acomarin built a scale ATB-model for tank tests. More than 100 tank tests sim- ulating various operational conditions were performed in order to provide suf- ficient experimental data for examining the stresses and strains associated with the pushpins for a variety of operational environments. The data taken from these tests were used to develop empirical based equations that are required to design the appropriate pin sizes for any given tug-barge combination.

As a result of these tests, Acomarin developed its new hydraulic Pushpin

Coupler system, resulting in a stronger unit, but with the same pin diameter as previously used, the company said. The operation of the Acomarin coupler design uses a digitally controlled sys- tem, which incorporates modern PLC- techniques.

A single serial bus cable connects the wheelhouse PLC to the local controller

PLC located in the Pushpin room. The digital control system is provided with portable remote control sets, which allow the docking and undocking opera- tion to be monitored and/or actuated from the wheelhouse room or from any location on the tug using the remote control units. The position of the port and starboard pins are monitored and positional readouts are provided to all control stations.

An emergency disconnect button is wired directly to the wheelhouse so that the pusher pins can be quickly (5 to 10 seconds) disengaged from the barge in the event of an emergency. This emer- gency function is available only at the wheelhouse control panel while operat- ing in the Sea Mode position only. The emergency quick disconnect switch is cap-protected in order to prevent acci- dental activation. Also, in the event of a "Dead Ship," i.e. all power in the tug- boat is lost, the pusher pins can be man- ually retracted in the pushpin room.

The pusher unit contains newly devel- oped bushing-bearings designed to sus- tain the steady state and transient forces as the tug pushes the barge in rough weather. In additionm, increases in strength, corrosion and rotational wear has been reduced with the introduction of a new hardened cast stainless steel piston.

The prototype installation, which was tested, modified and commissioned on the Irish Sea-DBL155 Barge, is success- fully operating in the high seas.

In anticipation of business expansion in the U.S., Acomarin will soon open an engineering office in Maryland.

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Former U.S. Secretary of Energy

Irish Sea & DBL fully loaded on the way to Tampa FL from Houston, TX.

Mika P. Laiho on Port Pushpin- Cylinder.

Local control panel

New Hydraulic Pushpin Enters Service

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