Electrical or hydraulic is one of the key questions while selecting winch solution in the fishing vessel. Both actors have different advantages and disadvantages and still, there are several orders both of the drive solution.
After the propulsion solutions and main engine solutions are growing day by day to diesel-electric/hybrid or completely electrical more and more so that the electrical subsystem especially deck machinery should be driven electrically.
There are several methods for electrical driven but the main concept based on AC or DC solution with frequency drives/motors or permanent magnet solution.
Electric winches are economical and environmentally friendly. Electric winches save fuel when compared to similar systems that use hydraulic or other energy sources, require less maintenance, and are easy to install.
The electrical drive on the deck machineries not only reduces the space needed for installation of the main operation system, but it is also lighter in weight and more efficient giving improved performance on automatic winches. On the other hand, permanent magnet motor solution is very effective in electrical efficiency based but for required space, there should be investigated in the design stage.
In some examples especially fishing vessel solutions;
• Electric drive winch efficiency estimated between 70 - 85%.
• Hydraulic drive winch efficiency estimated to vary between 35 - 60%.
The electrical solution on winches gives absolute advantage while using lots of electricity via generators, shaft generators or battery solutions. Furthermore, with electrical winches, you can save also regenerated power and use it in such as hotel load power requirements.
As the reliability of the scenario, Hydraulic drive already proved itself but electrical solutions mostly started to use in the 2010s and seem pretty solid as well. Fewer moving parts maintain reliability over time on the other hand electrical failures are much more than the hydraulic drives.
As maintenance based, electrical winches maintenance routine is less but troubleshooting can be more bit complicated.
Initial cost based may be the worst case situation for electrical winches because of advanced technology and efficiency is always expensive solution than the other type of drives but new build vessels installation cost is much more suitable because of no hydraulic piping in the system.
As finally, the basic advantage figures for electrical winches are
· Lower installation costs as the winches are free of hydraulic piping.
· Lower energy consumption, maintenance, and noise levels.
· Higher efficiency on the machine (input/output power) and energy regeneration during the free payout improve the vessel’s energy consumption.
· Provides better control than hydraulic systems with variable stepless control from 0% to 100% of maximum rpm and the whole torque on any rpm level.
· Environmental Friendly: no oil involved, vessel complies with Green Passport.
Roll damping system designs as especially tank and filling the tanks to create a stabilizing moment opposite to wave motion.
Peak shaving is a technique that is used to reduce electrical power consumption during periods of maximum demand on the power utility.
