Managing tensile forces in a cable

A method for managing a well servicing operation, comprising:

• with a hydraulic workover (HWO) system that comprises:
• a winch system including a drum that spools a cable to raise or lower at least a portion of a load;
• and
• a hydraulic jack coupled to the load;
• and
• with a cable control system coupled to the HWO system, comprising:
• at least one sheave;
• and
• a hydraulic piston-cylinder coupled to the sheave;
• reeving the cable from the drum over the sheave;
• coupling the cable to the load, thereby exerting a first portion of a tensile force on the cable;
• operating the hydraulic jack coupled to the load, thereby exerting a second portion of the tensile force on the cable;
• detecting that the tensile force exceeds a rated load of the winch system;
• relieving a portion of hydraulic fluid from the cylinder through a valve, the valve having a set pressure less than the tensile force;
• stroking the piston into the cylinder a stroke distance to urge the sheave in a first direction;
• and
• releasing a portion of the cable from the sheave, the portion approximately equal to twice the stroke distance.

A method for managing a cable system including a winch system comprising a drum with a portion of a cable spooled over the drum, the method comprising:

• reeving a portion of the cable spooled from the drum over one or more pairs of sheaves, each pair of sheaves having a first sheave coupled to a piston of a piston-cylinder and a second sheave coupled to the cylinder;
• setting brake on the drum to substantially prevent rotational movement of the drum to spool off an additional portion of the cable from the drum;
• exerting a load on the cable, the load exceeding a rated load of the cable;
• in response to the exerted load on the cable, urging the piston into the cylinder from a un-stroked position to a stroked position by evacuating a hydraulic fluid from the cylinder by opening a relief valve fluidly coupled to the piston-cylinder, the relief valve having a set pressure less than the exerted load;
• and
• releasing a portion of the cable spanning the first and second sheaves towards the exerted load by urging the piston into the cylinder.