Upgrade Crane PFS4

Crane upgrade in the middle of the Black Sea on a gas platform

ECCON was commissioned to upgrade the crane and its winch on the OMV gas platform PFS4 in the Black Sea. It was requested by the customer that the revised crane is able to lift people from the supply-boat onto the platform. Normally people get to a gas platform by helicopter, but in this case the platform was to small, so a proper helicopter couldn’t land safely on it.

To fulfil all the safety standards on the gas platform the crane and winch were upgraded according to the ATEX directive, i.e. the equipment can be used in explosive atmospheres, and the DNV GL, an independent third party performing the acceptance testing and commissioning. Also a new cabin was installed with all technical features.

A big challenge was the troubled sea, which was no problem for the gas platform itself, but for the upcoming supply boat. To protect the crane for sudden overload, which could occurs when the supply-boat sinks and rises the winch was equipped with AOPS (Automatic overload protection system). That means when the load on the hook is greater than 6.0 tons it activates automatically. The AOPS lowers the load on the hook by controlled decrease of the lifting gear and opening of the slewing brake.

Afterwards the winch was upgraded with EOS (Emergency Operation System). In case of the occurrence of a failure in the drive system the machine can be operated through a manual pump. In personnel transportation mode the winch has a throttled capacity of 1.2 tons.

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