Six-tonne marine reel bearings performing to plan 11 June 2010

Two six-tonne, 1.75m OD pipe reel bearings, replaced late last year on the pipelay vessel the Apache, are performing well, according to its owner Technip.

Mac Court, package manager at the oil and gas engineering firm says its replacement spherical roller bearings were supplied by Schaeffler preloaded into the existing 20-tonne pedestal housings, after removal of the worn units.

Andrew Marshall, product support manager at Schaeffler UK, explains that the bearings have a special, split outer ring, which means that the movement of the ship takes up any axial deflection of the main reel bearings and shaft.

He also says that the replacement was prompted by Technip's decision to deploy the main pipelay reel from Apache into a new ship, the North Ocean 103 construction support vessel, which is being renamed Apache II.

"Ahead of the reel transfer, Technip decided to make good use of this opportunity by removing and replacing the reel bearings. Schaeffler had provided the original FAG spherical roller bearings and housings, as well as offering technical support," says Marshall.

In October 2009, at Technip's shipyard in Pori, Finland, fitters from Schaeffler dismounted the original bearings. The fully assembled main reel was then lifted and conveyed into position onboard the new vessel, providing additional flexibility for rigid pipelaying.

Says Marshall: "The main pipe reel on an ocean-going vessel is a critical piece of equipment. If this fails while the ship is laying pipe, project delays could result in costly financial penalties [so] minimising our customer's downtime was essential."
"We were pleased with the work done by the Schaeffler engineers. They took a very diligent, professional approach to the task in hand and did exactly what was required," comments Court.

Brian Tinham

Related Companies
Schaeffler (UK) Ltd

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