Retractable ship propulsion systems: compact guidance for heavy cables

Retractable and retractable thrusters offer a number of advantages in shipbuilding, such as reducing the ship's flow resistance. While the systems bring flexibility and efficiency to ship operation, they also pose a major design challenge.
This is because a large number of cables are required for the control system and power supply of the ship's propulsion systems, which must be able to be moved safely at all times, even with a high weight.
In addition, the installation space is tight, which means that not only the guidance, but also the cables themselves must allow a tight bend radius.
These applications involve the drives of a drilling vessel (Well Intervention Vessel) and a survey vessel (Seismic Survey Vessel), which are used to determine drilling locations for oil and its extraction.

Particularly robust energy chains are suitable for the high loads involved in supplying the engines of special ships. In this case, our E4.1 energy chain series is used, which is characterised in particular by its high robustness and compact dimensions. In the case of the Seismic Survey vessel, the decision was made to use energy chains that run inside each other to save installation space. For additional stability, they are designed as multi-belt chains, i.e. they have additional chain belts that enable the system to move the high cable weights safely over the long term. And in order to minimise the load on the guided cable under the high forces, special strain reliefs have been integrated.
As we develop our chainflex® cables specifically for moving applications, the use of special cables in the energy chain was an obvious choice. They can cope with the small bend radius resulting from the tight installation situation on the drives.