Case Study: Beam trawler gets a dose of planned maintenance

Rotec recently completed a thorough service on a beam trawler, as a part of a traditional annual service on one of three local boats.

In addition to remedying the regular list of faults & based on previous experience Rotec suggested expanding the normal work list to include Planned Maintenance work. Typically this would include stripping and checking pumps, motors & valves in addition to addressing any outstanding leaks.

By carrying out Planned Maintenance tasks unexpected breakdowns of hydraulic and pneumatic components can be avoided. This was in a bid to remedy some recurring issues with steering and winching systems.

Rotec serviced the main winching system, removing and overhauling 3 hydraulic pumps, hydraulic motor & gearbox. On inspecting the drive shaft found a worn splined coupling, if this had failed thein it would have stopped the crew from retrieving their nets.

Other work included replacing a large selection of hoses, draining and inspecting the oil tank, supplying and fitting filters and a spare gear box.

 

 The engineers then stripped and repaired the pneumatic engine controls, completing a tricky job due to the controls being obsolete.

All hydraulic and pneumatic issues have been successfully rectified to customer satisfaction. This gives the skipper and his crew the confidence to go back to sea for another year.

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

Charting the right course to efficiency in the marine industry

British Fluid Power Association recently published an article which collates testimonies from a number of BFPA member companies spokespeople, including Paul Prouse from Rotec Hydraulic Ltd. They consider some of the challenges associated with the effective use and maintenance of fluid power systems and related equipment within the marine sector.

One of the most challenging industry sectors for engineering sciences has to be marine, where technology must be designed and built to withstand the demanding conditions associated with the open seas. Therefore, within the fluid power and related systems and equipment industry, providers to the marine sector need to ensure their products are designed and built to be 100% fit for purpose.

Arguably the most glamorous market segment within the marine industry is superyachts. As many superyachts are based in warmer climes, such as the Mediterranean, the Caribbean or Dubai, the operation and maintenance of electro-hydraulic systems should be performed with equipment that can function effectively in very high temperatures.

Concept to design

Rotec Hydraulics Limited covers both commercial and pleasure applications. Rotec provides service and installation facilities to local and national fishing fleets, as well as operating systems for fuel, fire and hydraulic services fitted to luxury yachts.

Integrated systems

Integrated systems are the present and the future within the marine sector, according to Paul Prouse, Managing Director at RotecHydraulics Ltd. He maintains that the first challenge to providing the right system is obtaining a suitably detailed specification from customers of what kind of solution they are require for their specific system requirements and then matching these requirements to a practical solution that best suits the customer and the application. “There are now so many options electro-hydraulic/pneumatic products on the market which are constantly evolving,” said Prouse. “As the customer does not always know what is available it is up to us as design engineers to keep up to date with new products on the market and where they could be integrated if suitable.”

Prouse makes the point that an electro-hydraulic system that Rotec could fit on a superyacht would have to be compact, low maintenance and aesthetically pleasing whereas the same system fitted to a fishing boat would be rugged, industrial, easily maintainable and more cost sensitive. He adds that electro-hydraulics now offers a multitude of options that Rotec can then transpose to customers to give them system information, compact hydraulic systems, control interfaces and safety functionality.

Within the bespoke luxury yacht market, Paul Prouse makes the point that time from concept to design based on the budget can be difficult to predict as there can be many factors that increase design time over the original estimation. “Customers may have been working for much longer periods (months or years) on their design concept requirements, and when it comes to our part, timescales are often short in relation to the overall project timescales,” he said. “What could be classed as R&D work for bespoke projects is not always thought about or included in project costings and timescales, which adds pressure on designers to get it perfect first time.”

Rotec’s recent collaboration on the WaveAccess project was another example of a successful application of the use of hydraulics in a testing marine environment.

“Electronic control systems incorporating electronic valve control, electro-proportional valve control and actuator positioning feedback gives us a platform from where we can now control hydraulic actuators from a remote location without the need to be near to the hydraulic components,” he said.

Read more about the WaveAccess project: https://www.rotec.net/rotec-help-develop-groundbreaking-vessel-waveaccess/

The full BFPA article, including testimonials from other hydraulic companies available at:

https://bfpa.co.uk/news/charting-the-right-course-to-efficiency-in-the-marine-industry/

Author: Sarah Gardner, BFPA

One week of work experience at Rotec

Last month, we were pleased to team up with the Kingsmead School in Wiveliscombe, Somerset, to provide a work experience for one of their pupils: Harry Alcock. Harry joined our Taunton Depot for a week, to experience first-hand how Rotec operates. Under the direction of Matt Turnbull, Rotec’s purchasing manager, Harry spent time working in the Stores, Warehouse, Electrical Bay and the office learning about Mechanical Design and Website build.

Harry was in for a Health and Safety briefing on Monday morning, before spending the afternoon with our Stores Manager, where he learned the general operational principles such as booking in/out, packing and picking. The next day, Harry was actively involved in the Stores day to day activities discussed the previous day and assisted with assembling a crate for one of Rotec’s marine customers.

On Wednesday, Harry joined the marketing department where he was introduced to website building using the popular online platform Wix. Harry chose to create a website focused on supercars and spent the day with Rotec’s marketing executive creating a working site using best marketing practices. The website Harry created is available on: https://harrysalcock03.wixsite.com/harryssupercars

Thursday morning was spent in the warehouse hose assembly with our team of engineers, wrapping hoses for our utilities customer.

Harry then joined our electrical engineering team, in the electrical bay, learning about safe working practises and some hands on electrical work.

On Friday morning, Harry was back in the office, working under the guidance of Rotec’s engineering director (pictured), who taught Harry about CAD design, before moving onto assisting the stores and the warehouse in the afternoon, with their usual Friday housekeeping tasks.

Matt, who supervised and supported Harry through-out his working experience, was impressed at Harry’s work ethic, at his ability to follow instructions and his positive attitude. We would gladly welcome Harry back anytime and we look forward to the next time we are able to support the local schools with their work placements.

 

Author: Sarka Humpolcova

Date: 2/08/2018

 

Rotec at Seawork marine exhibition 2018

Rotec was excited to be part of this year’s marine exhibition in Southampton, an event we have been returning to for over 10 years.

We shared our stand with our sister company – Ram Reman, the specialist in hydraulic cylinders who compliments Rotec’s core capabilities in the design, build, installation and maintenance of hydraulic, pneumatic and electronic systems.

This year Rotec decided to champion Parker Racor filtration products, offering 30% discount in honour of the event. Rotec and Parker have a long history of close partnership, with Rotec recently becoming the only Parker HTC (Hydraulic Technical Centre) in the South of UK. Stand Visitors could look forward to a game of ‘Can you guess where these Racor filtration elements are on our ship?’ with the chance to win small prizes, using a Parker IQAN unit incorporated into a lit up boat unit.

As always, we had a great time and we look forward to the next year!

Author: Sarka Humpolcova

Date: 15/07/2018