Whessoe Asia Pacific

Client:  Whessoe Asia Pacific

Project: Hydro-Energy Production Plant, Durban, South Africa

Scope of Work: 2 x 35 tonne SWL Penstock Primary Winches, 2 x 40 tonne SWL Secondary Winches, 4 x HPU's

Date of Completion: November 2010

Project details

ACE Winches was contracted by Whessoe to design, manufacture and supply 2 x 35 tonne SWL penstock primary winches and 2 x 40 tonne SWL secondary winches complete with 4 x 132 kW electric HPUs.

Whessoe, previously a British-based company for over 200 years, is now based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The winches, which were supplied to the company's Electrical Division in Durban, South Africa, were deployed to lower down pipe sections for the construction of pipelines, which take water from the dam to the hydro electric generators.

Although the four winches are physically identical, the different safe working load ratings are achieved through varied working pressure settings. The 35 tonne SWL winches were supplied with 1100 metres of wire and the 40 tonne SWL winches were supplied with 200 metres of wire. This compact high capacity system utilises the high capacity compact ACE standard gearbox assembly and the self-contained hydraulic power units are operated by radio control.