Aerostat Winch Monitoring With Allied Power

There is growing demand for lighter than air, near space systems that can carry aloft wide-area communications, broadband, and sensing devices to meet the requirements of military and commercial customers for network connectivity and ready access to mission critical information. Aerostats, which are commonly referred to as blimps, play an important role in our nation’s rapid response communications infrastructure – from supporting climate research and natural disaster response to combating terrorism and providing deploy-able “eyes in the sky” for our military personnel in the field.

MTNW provides aerostat monitoring hardware and data-logging software to several manufacturers involved with aerostat ground systems here in the United States.

One of our long-time partners, Allied Power out of Beaverton, OR (www.alliedpower.com), is using our LCI-90i smart display to view tension, speed, and payout data from the winches that power their aerostat ground station controls.

For this application, Allied Powers’ winch (EHS-5-43D hoist system) can store up to 4,400 feet of 1/2 ” diameter fiber optic cable and control the ascent and descent of the aerostat balloon at speeds up to 115 feet per minute while providing up to 5,500 lbs. of single line pull capacity.

You can see our LCI-90i display in the image above just to the left of the control joystick. Our display provides Applied Power and their customers with unmatched durability, reliability, and accuracy, thanks to features that include fast line tension sampling rates (up to 200Hz), a rugged and high-temp range capability (-45ºC to 75ºC), and direct sunlight viewability with our industry-leading electroluminescent screen.

Allied Power’s system includes variable speed payout and recovery via proportional joystick controls, and to support these functions the LCI-90i provides programmable alarms (high and low limits to tension and speed/payout settings) to allow for ease of use and additional operator safety.

MNTW is excited about our partnership with APPI and their 25 year history of providing winches, hoists, and positioning systems to industrial, commercial, and military customers. We are proud to be part of a rapidly growing solution for our nations critical communications infrastructure.

Tags: Allied Power, APPI, Communication Infrastructure, Hoists, LCI-90i, Positioning Systems, winch payout, winch tension, Winches

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 at 5:27 pm and is filed under Line Control Systems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Slickline Monitoring With DynaWinch

One of our leading partners, DynaWinch, out of Calgary, Alberta, has been working with the MTNW LCI-90i display for years to bring decimal point accuracy to their arsenal of down-hole tools and applications.

Recently, DynaWinch has incorporated our displays (both the LCI-90i and the LCI-80) into their new product line of slickline skid units. They now manufacture electrically, hydraulically, and diesel driven skid based units for all types of environments and needs.

Their product line includes aluminum wireline van bodies for slickline, case hole, and open hole logging, mast units, swabbing rigs, and wireline skids for on-shore and off-shore applications. And, their wireline accessories include hydraulic drawworks packages, customized control panels, measuring systems, spoolers, and down hole tools.

The picture below shows Tom Rezanka, Managing Director of MTNW’s LCI product line, sitting at the controls of a DynaWinch wireline van built for one of their customers. Notice the beautiful display immediately in front of Tom. If Tom were an operator, that display would provide him with line tension, speed, and payout information through its electroluminescent (day-light readable screen) at line data sampling rates of over 200Hz! The display will also provide the operator with the ability to store up to 14 different tension and payout calibrations with automatic recall.

Michael Fernquist, Technical Project Manager for DynaWinch, explains to Tom how the operators use the controls and display information in their job.

Here is a picture of the MTNW 90i display incorporated into a an electrically driven wireline skid unit. You can see that our displays are built for rugged, all-weather conditions. If you thought our electroluminescent displays look good in the sun, you should see them in the rain!

Tags: LCI-80, LCI-90i, Line Tension, Slick line monitoring, Slickline Monitoring, Well Servicing Monitoring, winch payout, winch tension

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 15th, 2010 at 7:06 pm and is filed under Line Control Systems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

US Coast Guard Uses an MTNW Running Line Tensiometer for R&D

Through one of our partners, Dillon Quality Plus, the Coast Guard purchased and used our HRT-3mm Running Line Tensiometer (or line rider) to measure the cable tension loads during some qualification testing on an improved rescue hoist for the Coast Guard H-65 Dolphin Helicopter.

An HH-65C flight crew hoists an injured hiker to safety from a mountain peak in WA at an altitude of 6,300 feet.

The hoist was improved by adding a clutch designed to release if the cable forces exceed a known value.  The Coast Guard tested the release force pulling on the cable at various speeds from 1 in/s to 30 in/s.  After the hoist passed this testing, the Coast Guard then conducted a number of drop tests that consisted of a 600 pound mass attached to the end of the cable and various amounts of slack in the cable from 1 to 5ft.

During all testing, the tensiometer (or dynamometer) was attached to the cable and the load output was recorded.  The HRT-3mm system worked perfectly.

The HRT-3mm is designed to measure running line cable tension loads from 0-13,000 lbs.  It only weighs 30lbs and is compact but reliable.

Tags: cable tension monitoring, calibration, Coast Guard, HH-65C, HH-65C Dolphin Helicopter, Injured Hiker, Line Rider, Line Tension, Running Line Tensiometer, Search and Rescue, tensiometers, tension meter, winch payout, winch tension

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 3:34 pm and is filed under Line Control Systems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Post Update – Natural Gas Pipe Pigging & Slip Lining Application – Cable Tension Monitoring

We just spoke with Michael Kasten, President of Coordinated Wire Rope, and during the conversation he mentioned that last Friday the CD Lyon team was working with the LCI-90 and HRT-3MM tensiometer/dynamometer system (described in our last blog post) when they hit “a snag”…literally. The CD Lyon team was pigging the pipe, which means that they were dragging a device through the existing pipe looking for obstacles, when tension readings on their LCI-90 display suddenly jumped from 3,000 lbs to 13,000 lbs.

Because the LCI-90 payout measurement is so accurate, the construction team was able to go directly to the location of the stuck pig, dig down to the pipe, remove the obstacle, repair the pipe and keep pigging…all within a couple of days. This is exactly what Measurement Technology cable tension monitoring systems are designed to do! Provide fast, accurate information that prevents problems and saves you time and money.

In the picture below you can see the “pig” device that the CD Lyon team is pulling through the pipe to look for obstacles.

Tags: cable tension, cable tension monitoring, Line Tension, mooring line tensiometer, winch payout, winch tension

This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 7:00 pm and is filed under Line Control Systems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Winch Payout Calibration

After spending the last 15 years installing and commissioning winch monitoring systems, we’ve found that some of the most commonly asked questions are about calibration.

1. How do we calibrate the LCI-90 display for tension and payout/speed?
2. How often should we calibrate?

These are important questions because the calibration inherently affects the accuracy of the winch monitoring system.

The following are methods we have used to calibrate the payout/speed system using our LCI-90 displays:

First, once the payout has been calibrated the speed data is developed automatically as it is just a time stamp of the incoming pulses produced by the rotational sensors. As in most physical measurements with external sensors, there is a theoretical method and an empirical method to achieve the payout calibration. Let’s consider a single overboarding sheave with installed rotational sensors. The scalar calibration value used in the LCI-90 display is pulses per unit length.

The theoretical calculation is to compute the circumference of a diameter defined as one line diameter plus the root diameter of the sheave. Then divide the pulse per one sheave revolution by this circumference to get a pulse per unit length. Drop this value into the display.

Equation = {(line diameter + sheave root diameter) * π} / pulses per sheave revolution

However this is never “exactly accurate”. The better way to calibrate your payout/speed system is to run a known length of cable through the sheave and note the accumulated pulses.

With the LCI-90 we can set the display to a diagnostic screen and monitor the pulses entering the display. Through the front panel buttons reset the payout by pressing the RSET button twice quickly. Then run the known length of line through the sheave, it is best to maintain a little tension on the line as to keep it line from slipping on the sheave. When the line has passed through, note the number of pulses on the DIAG screen of the LCI-90. Then the calculation is very straight forward:

Equation = number of pulses / length of line passed through the sheaves.

The same line standard can be used to verify both of the procedures above. The above scenario was recently used aboard the RV Thompson to dial in the payout system on the trawl winch. They had an opportunity to compare their winch monitoring readings to a very accurate beacon and transponder unit provided by an ROV group. They discovered differences between the two systems. Once they implemented the empirical calibration technique mentioned above they were able to get both systems to match.

Calibration should be done annually or as often as you detect discrepancies.

We have provided a small spread sheet at the bottom of this post to help calculate the required calibration value.

We will tackle the tension calibration in a later blog post.

Please give us a call if you have questions.
Phone: 206.634.1308
Email: lci@mtnw-usa.com

Download Spreadsheet

Tags: calibration, tension measurement, winch payout, winch tension

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 1st, 2009 at 6:16 pm and is filed under Line Control Systems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.