Rapp technicians recently completed a winch drive retrofit for Otto Candies in Houma, LA, early this year. An existing Rapp hydraulic winch was converted to electric, making use of Rapp’s Active Heave Compensation (AHC) package.
Rapp’s package includes a motor recognized at the 2010 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) Spotlight on Technology ceremony. Its design features liquid cooling—despite the fact that the R&D team at the outset considered myriad air-cooled designs before opting for liquid-cooling. Owing to favorable acknowledgement in the industry, Rapp patented the design. The motors are mounted on Rapp’s own in-house manufactured gearbox, that it developed long ago for its hydraulic winch lines. After completion, Rapp’s TWS-35060 winch achieves 79.2 tons line pull at 35 meters per minute speed (bare drum), and 30 tons at 92 meters per minute (top layer).
Since completion of the first retrofit, Otto Candies has now ordered a second, with work now underway. The winch retrofits are part of wave of electric winch contracts for Rapp, including customers in government survey, fisheries, and offshore oil sectors.