The Cable Engine project involved making modifications to existing linear cable engines as seen below.

The exisitng engines had problems with constant tension mode which was meant to keep the tension on the cable measured by a load cell at a set level, so as the barge moved the cable would pay out and as the barge stood still the cable would pay out and pick up with the movement of the barge over the waves.

Modifications were made to the local operator control panel and in the remote I/O panel at the engine. The Siemens PLC software was then modified to take the additional pinch control. A render mode was also added to allow paying out of cable only at constant tension and a freewheel mode which allowed paying out at the barges travelling speed.

The cable lies coiled as shown on the left before being fed into the cable engine.

Once modifications were complete the engines were proven over various tests which included running the cable between two engines and allowing one to run on constant tension while the other created either a pay out or pick up tension.