5.

3 Mooring winches The heart of the mooring system is the deck-mounted reel-stowage mooring winch, including winch drums and brakes. For the mooring system to operate properly, an adequate number of winches must be installed, a sufficient number of drums must be provided to cater to the mooring wire requirements, and the winch brakes must be designed, operated and maintained to furnish the designed holding load capacity. Mooring winches aboard ships are either manually operated or they are automatic tension winches. Automatic tension winches are designed for a specified line tension that can be preset so that the winch pays-out mooring wire whenever this preset value is exceeded by a set amount. The winch hauls in whenever the line tension falls to a certain amount below the preset value. If automatic tension winches are installed, they should be put on manual brakes while the vessel is moored and its automatic features are not used. The reason is that forward/aft springs and head/stern lines can work against one another when the ship is exposed to wind and current forces. This decreases their effectiveness in counteracting these forces and may cause the ship to move along the pier, possibly exceeding the operating tolerances of the cargo transfer devices, resulting in damage and possibly pollution. Manually operated winches require that mooring wires be hauled-in or slacked and the brake set either mechanically or hydraulically to a predetermined torque or pressure setting, respectively, to ensure design holding capacity. The hauling load capacity of a winch with one layer on the drum should not exceed 33% of the mooring wire's MBL. The preferred no-load speed of the first layer of the drum is 1.5 m/s; however, this speed should never be less than 0.5 m/s. At maximum hauling load, design speed should be 0-5m/s, and this design speed should never be less than 0-12 m/s. It is also recommended that winch engines have a slippage to hauling-in ratio sufficiently low to prevent yielding of wire lines when an overload condition occurs. Winch brakes should be set to hold a minimum load of 60% MLB of the wire on the appropriate wire layer on the drum. If set for a higher level, slippage of the wire should be permitted before breaking. The 60% minimum is selected because evidence available indicates that IWRC wire lines yield at 65-75% MBL when new. Considering friction in fairleads, it is believed that the 65% level is readily obtained in the outboard portion of the mooring lines. Further evidence indicates that a line in service for a fe w '.years experiences a reduction in braking load due to cyclic loadings, abrasion, etc. Thus, when considering further reductions due to splices and bending, it seems that a brake holding load of 60--65% MBL when new is consistent with the objective of protecting the line from breakage. Tile physical condition of the winch gearing and the brakeshoe linings have a significant effect on brake holding load capacity. It is recommended that all winch brakes be tested after installation and periodically tested and inspected thereafter. For mechanically actuated brakes, test results should be used to determine torque levels to obtain design brake holding capacity. Oil, moisture, or heavy rust on the brake linings or brake drum can reduce brake holding capacity up to 75%. Many operators run the winch with the brake set slightly to burn off or wear off the oil or moisture. Care must be taken to prevent excess wear due to the buildup of heat when using composite brake linings.