The windlass is used to collect and place anchors and anchor chains. The windlass is usually installed on the main deck of the ship’s head and stern, which is used for the ship’s anchoring and mooring (to make the ship relatively fixed safely and reliably, to make the ship brake in an emergency, and also to help the ship safely and quickly pull away from the wharf). The rollers on both sides of the sprocket can be used for winding up the cable.
Classifications of Windlass
Windlass can be divided into manual windlass, electric windlass, electric hydraulic windlass and steam windlass according to different power. At present, electric hydraulic windlasses and electric windlasses are the main windlasses on sea ships. The windlass is mainly composed of base, bracket, chain wheel, brake, chain wheel, gearbox, electric control system (except for manual windlass). The electric windlass has electric motor and the hydraulic windlass has hydraulic pump station.
The manual windlass is suitable for ships with anchor mass no more than 250kg, and the windlass with anchor chain diameter less than 24mm shall be provided with measures to prevent the handle from injuring people.
The power source of the electric windlass is the motor, which drives the main shaft to rotate after multi-stage deceleration through the large and small gears in the reduction box. Due to the high requirement of reduction ratio, the reducer structure is relatively large, which is mainly used for small and medium-sized ships, generally suitable for the windlass with the diameter of anchor chain of 16mm-93mm.
Electric hydraulic windlass is also called hydraulic windlass. The hydraulic pump is driven by the motor. The generated oil pressure drives the oil motor, and then the windlass operates through the reducer (or without reducer). It has compact structure, small volume of power and transmission part, stable operation, good speed change performance, but high requirements of manufacturing technology and maintenance. It is widely used in modern large and medium-sized ships, and is generally suitable for windlasses with anchor chain diameter of 16mm-120mm.
The steam windlass is driven by the steam engine, and the drum shaft is driven by the gear through the crank shaft. It is characterized by great power and simple structure. Warm up the cylinder in advance when using the steam windlass, and discharge the residual water vapor in the cylinder after use. In case of cold weather, sports car shall be carried out to prevent freezing (keep idling).
Pneumatic windlass is suitable for windlass with smaller diameter of anchor chain, but it is seldom used in practice.