IMPROVING WINCH TECHNOLOGY
Advanced Numerical Control Panel Operating System
ANCPOS
ANCPOS Project Team. (Back row left to right) John Miskimmon, Kelvin McGreeghan, Cameron McKee, and Darren Anderson. (Front row left to right) Adrianne Brown, Duncan McIlroy, Jake Walker, Daniel McClements, and Jessica Killen. Not pictured: James Coffey
“Counting warp windings and operating winches manually puts crew members on the aft deck in an extremely dangerous position” says Duncan McIlroy, a retired MCA fishing vessel surveyor. “If it snaps, crew will be directly in the path of the recoiling warp.” Accidents involving snapped warps are amongst the most horrific in the fishing industry. Despite the dangers, accurately measuring warps is key to efficient net operation: release the wrong length and the trawl doors won’t spread the net properly. Duncan is part of a team in Northern Ireland developing computer technology to make the use of winches easier and safer for fishermen. Quay Issues caught went to Northern Ireland to find out more about the project. The Advanced Numerical Control Panel Operating System (ANCPOS) project is led by Daniel McClements, Cameron McKee, James Coffey and Jake Walker from Portavogie. Apprentices at Magellan Aerospace and students at the South Eastern Regional College, the team are all studying for their BTEC Level 3 in Manufacturing Engineering. From a fishing family himself, Daniel McClements told us how his experience of the fishing industry helped inspire the project. “Every summer I worked on my dad’s boat, MFV Golden Ray (B953), a twin-rig prawn trawler fishing in the Irish Sea. Working with the winches and measuring the cables as they leave the boat is one of the most dangerous roles on board.”
36 QUAY ISSUES
