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US 10,589,968 B2Granted
Method for operating winch, and winch
AssigneeABB Schweiz AG
InventorsMikael Holmberg, Risto Tiihonen, Michael Rodas
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for operating a winch and a winch comprising a winch drum for spooling a spoolable medium for mooring a vessel, and a winch drive configured to drive the winch drum, wherein, during the driving of the winch drum, at least when a monitored tension of the spoolable medium is between a second upper tension threshold and a second lower tension threshold, an absolute value of the driving speed of the winch drum is configured to have a value that is proportional to an absolute value of a difference between the monitored tension of the spoolable medium and a predetermined tension set point.
Claims15
A method for operating a winch comprising a winch drum for spooling a spoolable medium for mooring a vessel, the method comprising:
- monitoring a tension of the spoolable medium between the vessel and a point of mooring;
- in response to the monitored tension of the spoolable medium becoming higher than a first upper tension threshold or lower than a first lower tension threshold, initiating, either immediately or after a first predetermined delay, driving of the winch drum,
- wherein, during the driving of the winch drum, when the monitored tension of the spoolable medium is higher than a predetermined tension set point, which has a value between the first upper tension threshold and the first lower tension threshold, the winch drum is driven in such a direction that the spoolable medium is spooled out,
- wherein, during the driving of the winch drum, when the monitored tension of the spoolable medium is lower than the predetermined tension set point, the winch drum is driven in such a direction that the spoolable medium is spooled in, and
- wherein, during the driving of the winch drum, at least when the monitored tension of the spoolable medium is between a second upper tension threshold, which has a value equal to or lower than the first upper tension threshold but higher than the predetermined tension set point, and a second lower tension threshold, which has a value equal to or higher than the first lower tension threshold but lower than the predetermined tension set point, an absolute value of the driving speed of the winch drum has a value that is proportional to an absolute value of a difference between the monitored tension of the spoolable medium and the predetermined tension set point;
- and
- in response to the monitored tension of the spoolable medium being, during the driving of the winch drum, between the second upper tension threshold and the second lower tension threshold for a second predetermined delay, stopping the driving of the winch drum.
4 more elements
A winch comprising:
- a winch drum for spooling a spoolable medium for mooring a vessel;
- a winch drive for driving the winch drum;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- monitor a tension of the spoolable medium between the vessel and a point of mooring;
- in response to the monitored tension of the spoolable medium becoming higher than a first upper tension threshold or lower than a first lower tension threshold, initiate, either immediately or after a first predetermined delay, driving of the winch drum,
- wherein, during the driving of the winch drum, when the monitored tension of the spoolable medium is higher than a predetermined tension set point, which has a value between the first upper tension threshold and the first lower tension threshold, the winch drive is configured to drive the winch drum in such a direction that the spoolable medium is spooled out,
- wherein, during the driving of the winch drum, when the monitored tension of the spoolable medium is lower than the predetermined tension set point, the winch drive is configured to drive the winch drum in such a direction that the spoolable medium is spooled in, and
- wherein, during the driving of the winch drum, at least when the monitored tension of the spoolable medium is between a second upper tension threshold, which has a value equal to or lower than the first upper tension threshold but higher than the predetermined tension set point, and a second lower tension threshold, which has a value equal to or higher than the first lower tension threshold but lower than the predetermined tension set point, an absolute value of the driving speed of the winch drum is configured to have a value that is proportional to an absolute value of a difference between the monitored tension of the spoolable medium and the predetermined tension set point;
- and
- in response to the monitored tension of the spoolable medium being, during the driving of the winch drum, between the second upper tension threshold and the second lower tension threshold for a second predetermined delay, stop the driving of the winch drum.
8 more elements
A control system for a winch including a winch drum for spooling a spoolable medium for mooring a vessel and a winch drive for driving the winch drum, the control system comprising:
- a controller for controlling the winch drive, the controller comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the controller to:
- monitor a tension of the spoolable medium between the vessel and a point of mooring;
- in response to the monitored tension of the spoolable medium becoming higher than a first upper tension threshold or lower than a first lower tension threshold, initiate, either immediately or after a first predetermined delay, driving of the winch drum, such that during the driving of the winch drum:
- when the monitored tension of the spoolable medium is higher than a predetermined tension set point, which has a value between the first upper tension threshold and the first lower tension threshold, the winch drum is driven in such a direction that the spoolable medium is spooled out,
- when the monitored tension of the spoolable medium is lower than the predetermined tension set point, the winch drum is driven in such a direction that the spoolable medium is spooled in, and
- at least when the monitored tension of the spoolable medium is between a second upper tension threshold, which has a value equal to or lower than the first upper tension threshold but higher than the predetermined tension set point, and a second lower tension threshold, which has a value equal to or higher than the first lower tension threshold but lower than the predetermined tension set point, an absolute value of the driving speed of the winch drum has a value that is proportional to an absolute value of a difference between the monitored tension of the spoolable medium and the predetermined tension set point;
- and
- in response to the monitored tension of the spoolable medium being, during the driving of the winch drum, between the second upper tension threshold and the second lower tension threshold for a second predetermined delay, stop the driving of the winch drum.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.