If you’re a hydraulic power engineer and you follow our blog posts, we are now going to take you on a journey deeper into our niche and introduce you to one of our hydraulic power unit related specialist areas, known as LARS or Launch and Recovery Systems.
To understand what’s involved in these machines that are used offshore in marine environments such as on oil rigs, we need to get familiar with the individual components:
Every launch and recovery system is equipped with an umbilical winch. This has to be able to accommodate the entire length and diameter of the remotely operated vehicle umbilical. This winch will typically make use of a level wind mechanism to cater for even spooling of the umbilical cable on to the drum of the winch.
To power the winch there is usually a suitably sized hydraulic winch motor attached that can pull in the remotely operated vehicle (ROV). This is where the hydraulic power pack comes in to play.
A Crane or ‘A’ Frame will need to be able to lift and on-board the ROV. It will also need to be strong enough to be able to accommodate the weight of the vehicle plus its load.
Most often it’s easier to put the ‘A’ frames and the hydraulic power unit HPU together on a dedicated mounting skid base so that they can be easily welded to the deck. Although they are sometimes positioned to be stand-alone units.
It’s a requirement for the LARS to be certified for use. This will generally include a Lloyds witness of the system load tests or DNV design approval. These are required prior to manufacturing. They are something that can cause delay and is most often extra cost.
A bit of a crash course into the world of LARS. We will be featuring more about this fascinating area in our blog posts, so if you’re unfamiliar with the offshore industries, you will have a chance to find out more about them and how we apply our hydraulic power packs in this field.