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Case Study

DeepOcean Package for Array Cable Installation on Race Bank & Bligh Bank

North Sea Winches have a wealth of experience in the design, manufacture, commissioning and after sales support for back deck equipment of cable installation vessels. We recently completed delivery & commissioning of a state-of-the-art quadrant handling system for offshore contractor DeepOcean to aid installation of array cables on both Race Bank & Bligh Bank (Belwind) off the coast of Norfolk & Zeebrugge, respectively.

Working for a leading international company, DeepOcean has delivered class leading efficiency completing inter array cable installations from the vessel Maersk Recorder for the UK east coast wind farm developments. 

Working closely with DeepOcean from concept through to commission, NSW supplied equipment including a 20-tonne active heave compensated winch, a 5-tonne constant tension winch and three 110kW EHPU’s to operate the two winches and an over boarding A-frame on the vessel. The new equipment has greatly improved cable lay times, of at least two completed lays in a 24-hour period dramatically saving time and ultimately cost whilst improving project schedule lead times for DeepOcean. Lee Smith DeepOcean project manager said: 

“This project is one of the first combined active heave/constant tension deck layouts for NSW and it has proved their abilities beyond doubt. The winches and controls were installed over a 10-day mobilisation and then put straight into operation on a time-critical deployment,
where everything went according to plan”.

Some of the performance data for the package include:

20Te AHC Winch

  • 8.6 Te @ 48 m/min on 7th layer
  • 12.9 Te lift at 32 m/ min on drum core 1st layer
  • Capacity for 300 meters 32mm dia wire in 7 layers
  • 300 L/min oil flow @ 190 Bar pressure
  • Brake rated minimum 150% of the above pull rating

5Te Constant Tension winch

  • 5.3Te @ 49 m/min on 5th layer
  • 7.8Te lift at 34 m/ min on drum core 1st layer
  • Capacity for 150 meters of 22mm dia wire in 5 layers
  • Performance at 180 L/min oil flow @ 180 Bar pressure
  • Brake rated minimum 150% of the above pull rating

EHPU Performance

  • Electric motor rated 90kW with IP66 protection fitted with encoder for AHC
  • Variable delivery piston type pump unit flexibly coupled to the above motor
  • Pump is suitable to drive above specified winch in Active Heave mode
  • Boost pump for closed loop system
  • Nominal 1000 litre Stainless steel oil reservoir with supply and return filters and stop taps, level gauge, filler / breather.
  • Air blast hydraulic oil cooler with radiator type heat exchanger and motor-driven fan
  • Fabricated steel base and frame with 4 lifting points 
  • Local control box with protection to IP67, including star delta motor starter, external start/stop buttons, emergency stop button and external wired socket to connect power supply.
  • Quick release fittings for pipework.
  • 10 meters of hydraulic pipework for winch coupling.