Design, build and installation - Rotec Hydraulics Ltd

Custom Designed Winching Systems

Rotec have been working with the Utility market for the last 20 years – designing and manufacturing winch systems for overhead line teams throughout the UK. Traditional vehicles such as landrovers were deemed the work horse and industry standard. Working with a number of organisation the challenge to replace the landrover centred on certain replacement vehicles – such as the Isuzu DMAX.

The bespoke system includes the following:

Electro-hydraulic PTO (Power Take Off) for the pump
Custom designed hydraulic manifold assembly, which uses an electronic proportional directional control valve
Dual pressure control which allows for pressure selection
Custom made hydraulic reservoir
Custom electronic control system, including a remote pendant with joystick control as well as a 2nd joystick located in the cab
Integrated electronic hand throttle for the engine
Quality winch and Parker hydraulic hose supplied with pressure test certification which can be traced throughout the Parker network using PTS system

The system operates in two work modes:

Lifting mode: capable of lifting up to 1550 Kg (SWL)
Self – recovery: capable of pulling 3600 Kg

The bespoke system is designed and manufactured completely in-house, fully – tested prior to despatch.

Bespoke Winching System for Polaris 1000 HD ATV

Ever considered how Over Head Line maintenance teams get their tools ‘up’ on to pylons to enable them to carry out their work? One answer is with Rotec Hydraulics’ help.

At Rotec Hydraulics the Team, work on many different projects. Much of the work undertaken requires the integration of knowledge and skills from across the Rotec team, to deliver all of the elements that make up a client brief.

One such brief was to enable these incredibly gutsy all-terrain Polaris 1000 HD Rangers to help Over Head Line maintenance teams access their tools, whilst working off the beaten track and when needed at height.

For one utility company the skilled Rotec team designed, built and installed bespoke hydraulic and electric Capstan Winching Systems to a fleet of all-terrain vehicles, to enable utility staff to ‘winch up’ the items they need, when working at height.

The all-terrain Polaris 1000 HD Rangers are used daily to support overhead line operations in the utilities sector. The low ground compact build of the Polaris is perfect to access difficult to reach areas when repairing or undertaking planned activity in the utility sector. Their confined flatbed behind the cab, is ideal to hold and secure Rotec’s bespoke Hydraulic Power Pack, powering the Capstan Winch. Electricity pylons are by the nature of their role, often positioned off the beaten track and are accessed across all sorts of terrain.

The whole winching system was designed, tested, built and attached to multiple vehicles by Rotec Hydraulics in their large workshop space at the Taunton branch using the skills of the specialist hydraulic Design, Build and Installation team.

The hydraulic and electric winching system ensures when these mighty little vehicles and crew reach challenging locations, they have everything needed to hoist tools up on to a pylon, to carry out overhead cable maintenance and repair work.

When in the middle of nowhere there are times when the utility company over headline maintenance staff will not be beside the winch system to physically push buttons, to engage the winding mechanism. Therefore, when designing the power sources to operate the Capstan Winch, Rotec ensured the Hydraulic Power Packs could be petrol driven, alongside a battery to enable electric start and a remote electric start option for when personnel are perhaps in position up a pylon.

An integrated cooling system and roll cage over the whole Capstan winching system unit adds overall protection to the investment as it is transported to site and used. The complete winching system unit can be fully removed from the vehicle if and when required.

As a further safety measure, Rotec engineers designed and manufactured a specially designed manually lowered ground anchor, to limit the ability of the vehicle to slide when the winch is engaged in more extreme winching situations. The power Capstan winching system is designed to pull up to 350kg.

As part of the design and testing process Rotec also undertook the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) in support of the Lifting Operations & Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER). Rotec ensures we provide the additional evidence within our design to ensure the vehicle conversion is strong, reliable and suited to the challenging environments in which it is designed to operate.

The Rotec team is thrilled they enable others to reliably undertake time critical repairs and planned activity, all year round, in any conditions, at any height, to keep key utility services across the country operating.

Are you looking for an alternative option to get something from A to B in a controlled way? Rotec Hydraulics experienced team of Hydraulic, Pneumatic, Mechanical and Electrical engineers can help. Please contact any of our locations across the south west for more information or assistance.

Date: 24/02/2020 Revised Author: Carly Warren

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.

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