The upgrade of the 10 point winch mooring system on board the pipe lay vessel Israfil Guseinov has been successfully completed to the satisfaction of operators McDermott Caspian Contractors Inc.
After 13 years the original winch system, consisting of 10 Hill Graham DC drives was considered to have insufficient power for the vessel's new role in the Caspian Sea on the Azeri Subsea pipelaying project. A decision was taken to upgrade the DC drive system to a higher power AC system fitted with an Active Front End for its regeneration capability.
ASIRobicon took full responsibility for a complete package consisting of winch controls, consoles, local winch operator panels, water cooled AC variable speed drives on three common DC bus cabinents, Active Front Ends, and new 600kW AC motors.
The system design and manufacture was carried out at ASIRobicon's High Wycombe UK facility with the AC drives and winch control system being extensively tested prior to shipping. Carrying out such extensive testing gave the additional benefit of reduced setting to work on board the vessel at a critical time. The Israfil Guseinov is now engaged in the preparation and laying of 186 km of 30" oil pipeline.
MJInformation No: 19919
