MWD were commissioned to investigate the possibility of upgrading 4 x electric dc winch drives. Problems had occurred with the original control system and the drives were intermittently tripping out, and this was causing the mooring up of the ship to be difficult especially in rough weather.
The existing dc drives were found to be obsolete, so MWD proposed to change the dc motors and drives to ac variable speed control.
The project entailed the supply of fwd and aft main control panels that were mounted below deck. Each control panel housed 2 x variable speed drives, and the controls for operating the winches.
On deck 5 x local operating stations were supplied (3 x fwd and 2 x aft) made from 316 Stainless Steel (IP66). Proportional joysticks (with central locking mechanism to protect against accidental use) provided winch control. System monitoring and Emergency Stop(s) were also incorporated into the deck control stations to provide the operator with system health information.