Rapp technicians recently completed a winch drive retrofit for Otto Candies in Houma, LA, early this year. An existing Rapp hydraulic winch was converted to electric, making use of Rapp’s Active Heave Compensation (AHC) package. "Active Heave Compensation is important for our future vessel operations in Brazilian waters, and the Rapp package has shown well with other customers," noted Brant Folse, Project Manager and Marine Engineer at Otto Candies. Indeed, Rapp has converted other hydraulic winches, including those of competitors, in recent years.
Rapp's package includes an award-winning motor, recognized as a new innovative technology at the 2010 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) Spotlight on Technology ceremony. Unique in the field, the Rapp design features liquid cooling—despite the fact that the R&D team at the outset considered myriad air-cooled designs before opting for liquid-cooling.
Apart from other advantages, the Rapp motor provides more kW per kilogram of weight than comparable air-cooled designs. Owing to favorable acknowledgement in the industry, Rapp patented the design. The motors are mounted on Rapp’s own in-house manufactured gearbox, that it developed long ago for its hydraulic winch lines.
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