Sound Ocean Systems, Inc. Delivers Two Mooring Winches

SOSI recently delivered two large mooring winches. These all-electric, custom designed, VFD controlled winches were developed for Oregon State University and the University of Washington. Although configured differently, both the 175 HP OSU Heavy Lift winch and the 75 HP UW Medium Lift winch contained SOSI’s continuous position sensing level wind system. The Heavy Lift Winch is capable of deploying or recovering 25,000 lbs. mooring loads at full drum while the Medium Lift Winch is capable of similarly deploying or recovering 8,000 lbs. loads at full drum. Both winches can accommodate a variety of line diameters and have the unique feature that the spooling lay factor can be programmed for one to three times the line diameter allowing the operator the choice of tight or loose spooling form factors. Both winches can pass mooring hardware such as thimbles and large shackles, and both were supplied with measurement and display of line scope, line speed, and line tension. During their recent maiden voyage aboard the R/V Thomas G. Thompson the winches were used to deploy two complicated two-leg moorings. The Medium Lift Winch was also used to recover a vertical profiler system. After initial deployments aboard the R/V Thomas G. Thompson and OSU’s R/V Oceanus, the winches, which were funded by NSF, will be moved to the UNOLS winch pool and will be available for use throughout the UNOLS fleet. Both winches were recently featured on UW’s Interactive Oceans Visions’14 Expedition broadcasts live from the R/V Thomas G. Thompson during the deployments of the two mooring. (http://www.interactiveoceans.washington.edu/)