Domestically produced deep-sea winch completed its first deep-sea survey aboard the "Xiangyanghong 06" vessel.

China's domestically produced full-ocean-depth geological winch completes its first deep-sea survey aboard the Xiangyanghong 06

The Ministry of Science and Technology's 13th Five-Year Plan national key research and development project, "Research and Development of Full-Ocean-Depth Geological Winch System," undertaken by Dalian Maritime University in collaboration with Nantong Liwei Machinery and other units, recently completed its maiden deep-sea survey mission in international waters aboard the Xiangyanghong 06, a vessel of the Natural Resources Ministry's Beihai Bureau.

According to reports, the core components of the full-ocean-depth geological winch system, "Haiwei DJ11000," are all domestically produced. During this voyage, geological sampling operations reached a water depth of 7762 meters, the biological trawl cable length reached more than 11,000 meters, the maximum cable winding and unwinding speed exceeded 120 meters per minute, and the longest continuous operation time exceeded 30 hours. Multiple deep-sea samples were obtained, fully verifying the stability and operational capabilities of the domestically produced deep-sea winch system and breaking the monopoly of foreign equipment.

As the basic carrier for marine investigation and research, the equipment level of scientific research vessels directly relates to a nation's marine science and technology strength. The deep-sea geological winch system is used for the deployment and recovery of deep-sea geological sampling instruments and is essential equipment for oceanographic research vessels. Currently, almost all geological winch systems used on domestic deep-sea research vessels are imported from developed countries such as Norway, which has restricted the development of China's research vessel supporting equipment. Therefore, the independent research and development of a domestically produced full-ocean-depth geological winch system is urgently needed.

In August 2018, the national key research and development plan "Deep-sea key technologies and equipment" key project "Research and Development of Full-Ocean-Depth Geological Winch System," led by Nantong Liwei Machinery, was approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology. Professor Li Wenhua's team from Dalian Maritime University participated in the research work throughout the project. Relying on the Ministry of Science and Technology's "International Joint Research Center for Underwater Engineering Technology and Equipment," the Liaoning Provincial Ship Electromechanical Integration Key Laboratory, and the Dalian Municipal Marine Equipment Engineering Technology Research Center at Dalian Maritime University, as well as the existing technical foundation of Nantong Liwei Machinery Co., Ltd., and in collaboration with China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation's Seventh 08 Institute, Harbin Engineering University, China Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Corporation's Seventh 10 Institute, Shanghai Rainbowfish Marine Technology, Zhejiang Sxiong Rope Industry, and Juli Rigging, etc., after two years of collaborative technological research and development, the problems of excessive self-weight of traditional steel cables, easy wear and tear of cables, and chaotic winding of large-capacity cables in deep-sea scientific research operations were solved. A full-size synthetic fiber cable nonlinear stiffness calculation model and a real-time status monitoring system for synthetic fiber cables were established. Breakthroughs were achieved in full-ocean-depth geological winch system structural design and optimization technology, high-performance, large-load traction winch tension reduction technology, cable slack compensator fast compensation response technology, cable winder adaptive multi-redundancy precise control technology, and high-precision system integrated intelligent control technology. In October 2020, the full-ocean-depth geological winch system "Haiwei DJ11000" was successfully produced and successfully passed the on-land joint commissioning test in the workshop. It was then installed on the Xiangyanghong 06, a vessel of the Natural Resources Ministry's Beihai Bureau, and successfully demonstrated its application in multiple sampling operations at depths of 4000-6000 meters, achieving a 100% sampling success rate.

Li Wenhua, professor of the Marine Engineering College of Dalian Maritime University and head of the project, introduced that the "Haiwei DJ11000" has a maximum operating water depth of 11,000 meters and can conduct geological sampling operations at the maximum depth in all waters worldwide. The system's performance and technical indicators have fully reached and in some aspects exceeded the levels of similar mainstream foreign products. The "Haiwei DJ11000" is also the first full-ocean-depth geological winch system in China to have dual certifications from the China Classification Society and the American Bureau of Shipping. The overall system domestication rate exceeds 95%, and the key core component domestication rate reaches 100%, fully achieving independent control. In the future, the "Haiwei DJ11000" will conduct regular deep-sea survey operations aboard the Xiangyanghong 06.