Wire rope producer Redaelli has established a new record in its factory in Gardone Valtrompia, Italy.
At the end of January Redaelli completed production of what it claims is the biggest non rotating wire rope ever manufactured, with a diameter of 120mm.
The galvanized steel wire rope, class 35×7, has a breaking force of 1200t. This was verified by tests in the laboratory of Bochum University in Germany.
Ropes up to 140mm diameter have been made in the past but these have been only spin resistant, not fully non-rotation, according to Redaelli. This new rope has a guaranteed torque factor of 0.024, and is specially toughened to bear the radial loads created by winding the rope on the drum in multiple layers.
The rope is destined for use on the new Dalia floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel that goes into service for oil company Total Fina Elf later this year in the oil fields off the coast of Angola.
The Dalia FPSO is equipped with a 405t capacity winch that is used to pull in the risers coming from a cable layer ship sited 500m away. The winch is rated for exceptional lifts at 535t capacity.
The winch is being made by NFM Technologies of France. It is 2690mm in diameter and has specially engineered Lebus grooving to spool the massive rope onto the drum in five layers. NFM’s customer is the project engineer Technip France, which is a subsidiary of Total.
