Okeanus Science & Technology, LLC (Okeanus), an international provider of specialised ocean equipment and marine engineering services, announced the successful delivery of a 1,500 m depth rated, 500 kg safe working load, underwater mooring winch custom designed for integration within a large displacement uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) earlier this year
The all-electric DC winch, which was delivered to the client in Q1 2023, is the latest product extension to Okeanus’ comprehensive portfolio of subsea winches, and was conceived specifically for UUV mooring applications.
The UUV applications called for the winch to have a compact footprint and be as light as possible and so was built with 5000 series aluminium, as well as other titanium materials. Weighing in at 125 lbs (56 kg), which accounts for all the housed electronics, the all-electric subsea UUV winch includes other features such as subsea rated composite bearings, slack line prevision and pinch roller, and external parking brake for increased static line tension capacity. With a storage capacity of 100 m of 0.25” synthetic line, the 24” (W) x 21” (L) x 14” (H) winch is equipped with an oil-filled motor and gearbox and an 1-ATM electronics pressure vessel. The winch’s autonomy package with CANbus interface allows for real-time control and feedback to the host vessel’s C2.
“Our latest subsea winch, designed to significantly decrease energy usage for subsea station keeping and loitering of a UUV, is yet another example of Okeanus’ commitment to the advancement of autonomous systems in the ocean industry,” said Don Brockett, chief operating officer, Okeanus. “As offshore operators, whether for defense-related missions or survey data acquisition, continue to integrate uncrewed assets into the field in pursuit of efficiency-led, long-endurance and covert operations, and saftety-first ways of working, robust, compact, and failsafe handling systems — like our most recent subsea winch — will further prove instrumental to the scalable progress of subsea autonomy and effective remote operations.”
For more information on Okeanus’ custom engineered winches, including the underwater winch, visit: https://okeanus.com/products/specialty-winches
