Hydra rope lets contractors use cranes and winches in tandem, deploying loads of 300-600t in depths of up to 4,000m.
Part and parcel of rope use in deeper waters, the newest Hydra ropes are longer and have added weight.
The new purpose-built Northern UK facility, Bridon Neptune Quay, manufactures the large ropes for use in deep applications.
Jon Templeman, Bridon’s CEO, says, "One benefit that Bridon Neptune Quay brings, is to offer operators increased lengths meaning that pipelines can be installed to operate in areas that were previously unattainable"
When the rope range is extended, it will contain standard models with diameters of 128-180mm that have breaking loads ranging from 2,500-2,600t.
These larger, longer ropes will give contractors doing pipelay work more options for the weight of the load at depth, particularly when using two winches or a crane and a winch in a tandem operation.
Ropes used in this way can lift heavier loads deeper than traditional multi-reeved crane operations can.
A trend for increased exploration in the oil and gas market is driving Bridon to develop equipment for this work.
To benefit from the greater rope lengths, offshore vessel operator clients will work with Bridon to innovate new winch and crane designs alongside their crane and winch suppliers. Bridon will be able to collaborate on equipment designs such as potential changes to drum configurations on crane vessels.
Facing the huge scope of this research, Bridon is launching the Bridon Technology Centre.
The Technology Centre will enhance its ability to work with clients in the areas of rope, winch, crane, and vessel research and development for specific jobs.
It will have capability to do bespoke breaking capacity tests on ropes up to 250mm in diameter, and also fatigue testing ropes of up to 100mm diameter on custom sheaves.
Templeman says, "Importantly, Bridon has the ability to work with designers and operators to review designs and ensure that the ropes are considered as part of the wider lifting system from the very beginning of system development, supervising installation, ensuring designs maximise rope life and offering in-service maintenance advice."
Bridon has become more offshorefocussed since its days supplying mining ropes nearly 100 years ago, and in 1996 has been developing polymers used to sheathe ropes, and fibre core ropes called ‘Bristar" which have mooring applications.
"We target the use of different polymers to give controlled improvement in performance and rope life, and control of rotation," says Chris Newton, Bridon’s group technical director.
The new engineering challenge posed by the dimensions of new large diameter rope has led Bridon to innovate other new designs, such as a new connection for a giant socket.
The large-diameter Hydra ropes are heavy: While 325t is the industry standard, a single large-diameter rope reel can weigh up to 650t.
To address this, Bridon plans on providing clients with options for getting the ropes onboard different types of client vessels. The newly-engineered take-up stand at Neptune Quay, which runs on tracks down to the quayside, is especially designed for ropes with exceptional weights up to 600t, allowing longer single ropes. The ropes can be lifted off the stand onto the ship by the vessel’s crane.
SPMTs can be used for driving ropes directly on to crane barges.
Additionally, the use of a newly renovated 324t hammerhead crane, Walker Quay Crane, is available nearby to lift reels onto boats.
Depending on demand, crawler cranes may be brought in to do rope loading.
Clients might eventually use specially engineered traction winches for loading ropes: they need to be engineered for the purpose because each rope is different.
Customer-engineered reel designs could potentially reel the rope directly from the take-up stand.
Bridon’s clients are interested in the ropes, Templeman says, a factor which could influence vessel, crane and winch designers. Templeman says, "With regards to drum set-up, this is really an area for crane designers. However, in light of the launch of the new Neptune facility, Bridon have received enquiries for very large diameter, high load capacity ropes.
"As [tandem crane and winch lifts] are a more recent operation requirement than standard topside tandem crane lifts using multi-reeved cranes, Bridon’s state-of-theart ropes will present operators with new option for subsea pipelay abandonment and recovery applications."
One such new option may make it possible for operators to advance both single lines in two fall systems and dual winch system. Newton says that a few tasks related to the lightness of crane design lay ahead for the industry to allow it to use Bridon’s ropes to their full advantage.
"It’s integrating the ropes with the crane engineering systems. It’s reducing the weight of the vessels so that operators have use of cranes in tandem operations," says Newton.
