Odens boxing clever
The Swedish Polar Research Vessel ‘Oden’ is back in the Arctic ocean, this time with the help of a specially commissioned electric winch, readied for the challenging climate of its destination.
Built in 1988 by the Götaverken Arendal shipyards for the Swedish Maritime Administration, Oden reached the North Pole on 7 September 1991 – the first non-atomic powered vessel to do so, along with the German Research Vessel Polarstern. Over the years the ship has been upgraded with various kinds of scientific equipment, such as drilling equipment for geological surveys, containerised laboratories and frozen storage.
Now, with the help of North Sea Winches, Oden is heading north toward the Barents Sea with its new GME-500 marine electric winch, ready to begin the task of seabed core sampling.
Over a three day period the equipment was put through various load and operation tests to prove functionality: the interesting thing is that the winch is being fitted into a 20ft ISO container prior to being shipped, this does more than ensure ease of transport as the winch will be operating, quite literally, ‘out of the box’ . The container includes the winch’s inverter controls with only the line tension meter arriving externally. Stacked with Oden‘s other mobile equipment toward the ship’s stern, the container opens on one long side to enable the wire to pass through tension meter rollers to a suspended sheave for deployment overboard.
The winch has been fitted with diamond thread automatic spooling gear which enables its 6,500m of 20mm steel wire to spool neatly on each of its 16 layers. The wire itself has one end fused and tapered, the other looped for use with a D-shackle or safety hook and was spooled on to the winch under partial load.
Of course, an Arctic voyage makes exceptional demands on a vessel’s equipment. In addition to being operational at a minimum ambient temperature of around -20˚C – something the ISO container helps maintain – the winch has additional means to protect itself against moisture in the air causing it to get even colder. Ray Milner, sales manager for North Sea Winches tells MJ, “The motor and controls were also fitted with anti-condensation heaters which are programmed to operate when the motor is not running, so this also guards against extreme lows.”
This ensures that the equipment remains ice-free, smoothly carrying out Oden‘s workload.
By Alex Napier
