The Requirements
Hoist UK have supplied a leading UK air defence company with an electric rope winch and control system for experimental work which involve a controlled drop of an electronic sensor towards the ground to enable a set of readings to be taken before it is brought to a halt just above the ground, without damaging this very expensive piece of equipment.
The sensor is connected to the winch through a set of pulleys and is guided by a system of additional ropes and rigging.
The Challenge
Due to the nature of the experiment it was not possible to fit the winch with a steel wire rope as this would interfere with the experiment, so the winch is fitted with a high strength and non-metallic dyneema rope.
The Solution
The electric winch supplied is capable of a maximum speed of 6m/s with fast acceleration and deceleration properties, which were required for this particular application.
The standalone control system provided enables the scientists to change the properties of the winch to try out different controlled drops scenarios and get reams of data to analyse on the performance of the sensor unit at different speeds and with different acceleration and deceleration properties.
Hoist UK
"This was an interesting bespoke project for our teams here at Hoist UK to work on, knowing the sensor was the key element to this situation, our design team worked hard to create a bespoke lifting solution to keep the expensive equipment as safe as possible - sticking with our company motto of 'Safety Above All' "