Anchor Winch

A windlass is a large deck machine on a ship that is used to draw and lower anchors and chains. The windlass is usually installed on the main deck of the ship's bow and stern for the ship to weigh anchor and anchor the cable, and the rollers on both sides of the sprocket can be used for twisting the cable. The electric anchor winch pulls the anchor through the wire rope, and the end of the wire rope is connected to the anchor chain of about 4-10m, and the anchor chain is connected to the anchor.

Specifications

The main technical indicators of an automatic boat anchor winch include cable diameter, nominal speed of windlass, rated load, supporting load, several speed changes, electrical system, and so on.

1. Rated working load: 2835kN

2. Nominal speed (first layer): 15m/min

3. Support load: 2629kN

4. Wire rope diameter: 42mm

5. Rope capacity of drum: 550m

6. System working pressure: 15MPa

7. Motor power: 55kW/75kW/90kW

8. Sprocket: single or double hawse wheel

Windlasses can be divided into manual windlasses, electric windlasses, and electric hydraulic windlasses according to different driving methods. At present, the sea ship anchor machines to electric anchor machines and electric hydraulic anchor machines. In order to control the operation of the windlass, the power windlass is equipped with a master controller, which can carry out reversing operations and multistage variable speed control.

A manual windlass is suitable for ships whose anchor mass does not exceed 250kg, and measures should be taken to prevent injury by the handle.

The power source of the electric boat anchor winch is the motor, which drives the main shaft to rotate after the multi-stage deceleration is realized by the large and small gears in the reducer box. Due to the high requirement of deceleration ratio, the deceleration mechanism is large and mainly used for small and medium-sized ships.

The electric windlass is divided into horizontal windlasses and vertical windlasses according to the arrangement. Horizontal windlass is widely used in modern transport ships, and its main shaft is horizontally arranged. In order to tie and untie the cable operation and adjust the force of the cable, modern ships often use the combined anchor-mooring machine, which combines the anchor machine and mooring winch into one. In addition to the auxiliary reel at the spindle end, there is also a mooring winch on the windlass spindle, which, like the sprocket, is driven by the spindle and controlled by an independent clutch and brake. Hold the clutch together to twist or loosen the cable. After the cable is twisted, the brake is tightened to maintain the force on the cable without moving it to the bollard.

The sprocket shaft of the Vertical windlass is perpendicular to the horizontal plane, which can reduce the deck area occupied by the windlass, which is commonly found on warships.

There are also automatic windlasses and remote control windlasses. The former is equipped with an anchor chain length sensor in the automatic hydraulic windlass system. When the anchor chain is thrown out, the anchor will stop automatically. When weighing the anchor, when the anchor is close to the hawse tube, it can automatically slow down, and when the anchor enters the hawse tube, it will automatically stop. The latter is a kind of windlass that can be remotely operated in the cab, and its throwing and hoisting operations can be remotely operated on the bridge.

Structure

The electric windlass is mainly composed of a base, support, anchor chain wheel, brake, sprocket, gearbox, and electronic control system. The electric windlass has a motor, and the hydraulic windlass has a hydraulic pump station.

In addition to the different power parts of all kinds of windlasses, their functional parts are basically the same; that is, they all include sprockets, winch rollers, clutches, and brakes. These functions are arranged on the same power-driven spindle. The winch drum at the end of the spindle generally rotates with the spindle, and the sprocket is controlled by an independent clutch and brake.

When the clutch is closed, the sprocket and the main shaft are snapped together and can be turned with the main shaft, so that the anchor chain can be twisted in or out.

When the clutch is off, the sprocket does not rotate with the main shaft and can be anchored or twisted. The brake is used to brake the anchor chain or control the loose chain speed. When the brake is tight, the sprocket is fastened to the body of the windlass and cannot be turned.

Ships can generally be equipped with a double-sprocket windlass. For large ships or large ships, because of the large distance between the left and right hawse tubes, two single chain wheel windlasses are set up.

Product operation details

The first stage - unwinding the anchor chain lying on the bottom of the water. At this time, the electric boat anchor winch motor is running at full speed, and the load torque on the motor shaft is constant. The ship slowly approached the anchor point under the pull of the windlass. The overhang of the anchor chain will not change shape.

Stage two - tighten the anchor chain. At this time, the anchor machine will tighten the anchor chain, the load torque on the motor shaft gradually increases, the speed decreases, and the shape of the overhanging part of the anchor chain changes until the anchor chain is straightened. 

The third stage - pulling the anchor unearthed. After the anchor chain is tightened, the anchor is pulled out by the inertia of the ship's advance. If it cannot be pulled out, the motor will experience a "blocked rotation" phenomenon, that is, stop rotating at a large blocked current. In order to prevent the motor from burning out due to blocking, the motor is required to have "soft" mechanical characteristics, and the blocking torque is 2 times the rated torque. In order to avoid too long a blocked rotation time (specified as 1 min), the driver can drive slowly and pull the anchor by the force of the propeller.

Stage four - Hoisting the anchor and chain in the water. After the anchor was unearthed, the motor load torque suddenly decreased, and the motor speed increased. With the shortening of the cable, the load torque decreases gradually.

The fifth stage - pull the anchor into the hole, and the motor runs at a low speed. When the anchor enters the hole, the load torque of the motor increases due to the friction between the anchor and the steel plate of the hole.