Design, build and installation - Rotec Hydraulics Ltd

Warship Power Units & Reservoir

After 4 months work replacing hydraulic pipework on a warship, Rotec’s engineers needed to flush the pipes to meet the required cleanliness standards. Due to a change in conditions on board the decision was made to design and build modular bespoke power units and a standalone reservoir.

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Rotec have a long history working with the defence industry and specialise in bespoke design and manufacture of hydraulic power units for marine applications, amongst others.

Our team designed and built the power units using 55Kw electric motors close coupled to Berarma Vane pumps and included a flowmeter and a pressure gauge. The Berarma pumps are pressure compensated with variable flow rates. This gives the operators the flexibility to tailor flows and pressures thus ensuring turbulent flow conditions are met to maximise the cleaning action.

Electrical control panels are mounted direct to the trollies to allow ease of use

The power units are fitted with castoring braked wheels for easy manoeuvrability in tight spaces. The Rotec team also designed and manufactured a standalone reservoir, suitable for multiple applications and high volume (fluid) displacement, enabling maximum flexibility as design changes can be incorporated or removed as desired. The system includes pressure return filters which help remove any contaminants from the existing system, ensuring the pipes comply with client specified level of cleanliness.

Rotec delivered to the tight deadline, with just 1 week turnover.

Date: 26/09/2019

Author: Sarka Humpolcova

Case Study: Waxing Machine

This unique piece of equipment was recently designed and built at our Taunton depot. The unusual request came as a result of one of our existing existing customers, a well-known candle manufacturer, recommending Rotec to their supplier – a company specialising in the manufacture of candle wicks.

Rotec previously undertook a variety of repairs and control system projects for the candle maker and had also supported the wicks manufacturer’s machinery. Following a successful PLC re-programming project, we were asked to manufacture a waxing machine. Using old conceptual designs left by the previous manufacturer, Rotec produced an up-to-date design, new CAD drawings and a modern control system. Our team of talented engineers then successfully completed the build.

The machine is designed to impregnate and coat a continuous length of wick cord with wax and re-spool onto a new drum. The process involves a multi-pass immersion process through a molten wax reservoir followed by periods of cooling and hardening. The wax is maintained at a constant temperature, indirectly heated by hot water in a vessel located below the wax reservoir. A plc is used to control wax temperature, main drive motor speed and spooling control of the finished product. The machine is now complete and will be installed at the customer’s premises within the next couple of weeks. The machine is capable of producing sufficient finish waxed wick for up to half a million wicks a day, depending on the length of the wick required.

Rotec and the customer are already in discussions about the next project, the design and manufacture of a wicking machine designed to cut the wicks to the desired size and insert the sustainer (the small metal disc sitting at the bottom) ready to be inserted into a candle.

Date: 08/04/2019

Author: Sarka Humpolcova

Case study: Containerised Flushing Rig

In August 2017, the head of Rotec’s Plymouth Depot, Dave Nance, brought in an interesting enquiry from one of Rotec’s existing customers – an engineering firm specialising in work in Aviation, Land, Marine and Defence sectors.

The firm required a bespoke containerised flushing rig system for marine application. All Design work for the Container, Hydraulic & Electrical was completed in-house by Rotec, followed by a build by a team of Rotec engineers, in-house electrical specialist and a number of subcontracted engineers to help with the workload. The whole team was headed by Andy Rimes and Richard Renfree.

The project took 3 months from start to completion.

Bespoke container:

6000mm long x 2500mm high x 2500mm wide
Tunnel design with double doors each end

2x separate Power units installed inside the container:

Each Power unit generally based upon: 4 x 7.5 Kw Motor & Pump sets installed onto a 3000 Litre stainless steel reservoir

Each Motor & Pump set producing variable flow rates from 70 L/Minute up to 170 L/Min via Electronic Variable speed Motor invertor drive control
Each Motor & Pump set provides Bi-Directional flushing control via directional control valves
Each Motor & Pump set provides pressure and return line filtration – Filtration ranges from 2 to 10 microns (Depending on filter elements used)
Individual contamination monitoring for each circuit.

Custom made and designed electrical control operating system:

Driven via touch screen tablet control
Remote operating control also possible

Extreme lifting: Using Rotec winching systems at 500 ft

At the beginning of 2016, we started to work with National Grid, contracted to support the company’s hydraulic, pneumatic and electronic needs alongside the primary project (bespoke winching systems for their fleet of vehicles), and we didn’t have to wait long for a challenging project to come through.

The company was planning a maintenance project in and around of Chepstow, involving the lowering and raising of insulators on the two 500ft high river crossing towers spanning the river Severn, which form part of the national grid and the 21,000 towers owned by the company in the UK.

Chris Land, National Grid’s Equipment and Live Working Overhead Line Engineer supervising the project relates:

“This project has been challenging from the start, not only because of the height of the towers but also because the tower loadings and fittings on these towers are totally unique compared to the rest of the towers on the transmission network. The insulators were last changed in 1969 and we have very limited experience of working on these towers, we have been working from 50 year old drawings and information to develop the procedures necessary to carry out the replacement of the insulators. The primary focus has been to maintain a safe working environment for the linesman carrying out the work to enable the work to be delivered safely and within the timescales. The work was delivered well within the allotted timescales with zero incidents”

Lowering old insulators

Swapping old for new

New insulators lifted into position

Preparations for this project have taken over 6 months, with 6 weeks given to the crew to complete the work on the two 500 ft high towers. Rotec was asked to design and build a bespoke Tower Leg Capstan Winch Assembly for the project, capable of lowering and raising the heavy insulators on a system of ropes.

The assembly consists of three main components: capstan winch, engine drive unit and a reservoir unit. Adrian Derbidge, Rotec’s engineer assigned to the project says “This is a powerful unit, with a safe working limit of up to 1 ton on a dynamic line pull”. Adrian has seen the project through from the start, starting with the design and build, all the way to the site visits, maintaining his presence in case of any adjustments being necessary. He says the challenges in this project were in keeping the units as light as possible and compact, while retaining their ability to tackle heavy loads.

Click below to watch the National Grid engineers work at dizzying heights as shown on the news:

NationalGrid_BBC1West_28.03.2017_22.39

Date: 27/04/2017

Author: Sarka Humpolcova

Rotec part of a groundbreaking vessel development: WaveAccess

In 2014, Rotec were invited to join Coastal Charters, a commercial maritime business based in West Cumbria, on the development of WaveAccess.

The project originally came as a response to an emerging trend within the offshore wind industry to move the construction further out into the sea. The company anticipated the industry’s need for a reliable vessel that would be faster and able to cope with the challenging conditions further offshore.

The goal of the project was to design and build a rapid crew transfer vessel that would be faster, safer and cheaper to run than the vessels in use, resulting in the pilot vessel: Tenacity

The radical new design allows for transport of passengers and crew with dramatically reduced fuel consumption at twice the speed, while maintaining safety, minimising motion sickness and improving comfort at up to 40 kts in seas in excess of 2m. The vessel can be used for crew transfers in industries such as oil & gas, offshore wind and construction, search and rescue, patrol, medivac, safety boat, to name a few.

See video of the vessel in action on WaveAccess website or YouTube channel

Thanks to Rotec’s extensive marine experience and previous control systems the company had developed for use on multi-hull jet vessels in the wind-farm support vessel industry we were invited to participate in this innovative project.

Andy Rimes, Rotec’s Technical Director outlines the project “Together with the team at WaveAccess and other specialists we developed a bespoke control system for the twin waterjet propulsion system to provide fully automated synchronised control of the jets, clutches, thrusters and main engines both in normal forward cruising modes and reverse facing tower operations.”

The electronic system is based on Parker Hannifin’s Iqan mobile controller and associated products. “As well as the electronic supervisory control and monitoring system we also completely re- equipped the Italian Castoldi waterjets hydraulic drive and control systems to provide fully proportional control electronically controlled from the Iqan system. This provides a smoother, more controllable and economic drive system. “

All design work and bench testing took place at Rotec’s premises in Taunton, with the installation, setup and sea trials carried out by Rotec engineers at Coastal Charters home in Cumbria.

It was a challenging, yet ultimately rewarding, experience to be involved with the development of a concept vessel such as this and we wish Stephen and all the crew and team at WaveAccess best of luck with their promotion of the successful and innovative vessel to the industry.

For more information please visit: www.waveaccess.co.uk

Author: Sarka Humpolcova

Date: 06/04/2017

Rotec help Western Power Distribution enter a new era

Western Power Distribution faced some tough decisions as their workhorse of choice, the iconic Land Rover Defender production was brought to a close. The company had to find an alternative vehicle suitable for the challenging working conditions and decided on the formidable Isuzu Dmax. Rotec have been the power supplier’s chosen partners in developing and producing a fleet of vehicles adapted to cover the urban and rough terrain that covers their distribution network. Rotec’s engineers have designed, built and installed over 1200 of the tailored made winches over the past decade, all the way until the last Defender model rolled of line at Solihull, bringing the icon’s 70 years of service to a close.

Land Rover Defenders

The Land Rover Defender is well known for its universal chassis base, often adapted to suit a wide range of applications that allowed commercial and end users to produce a wide range of engineered solutions that could either be mechanically or hydraulically driven. Rotec designed, manufactured and installed a range of winch solutions that meet the demands of the overhead linesman who required a robust system that gave precision winching often in remote and arduous terrain.

Rotec winch systems meet statutory requirements for lifting under the ‘Lifting operations and lifting equipment regulations 1998’, winches installed meet BS EN14492 providing the lines man with quality products that often employed electronic controls to safe guard load control and interlocks incorporated within the vehicle.

Isuzu Dmax

We were excited to announce that WPD had extended the contract as they rolled out their new fleet – the tough Isuzu Dmax 4×4.

WPD announced “Rotec mechanical and hydraulic design engineers continue to work on new hydraulic winch systems for a wide range of vehicles that will embrace the technology and experience gained over the years with the Land Rover. Whilst Feb 2016 has seen the last of any new production Land Rovers, the vehicle will be adapted and utilised by many enthusiast and commercial companies for hydraulic applications in many years to come, Rotec is the team to work with.”

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