News | 09/30/2019 Conquering the world with Spartacus

For the Spartacus, Liebherr and IHC developed an anchor winch with two high-torque plug-in gears.

Single image, web (145 KB)

The first LNG-driven, 164 m long and 44,180 kW-strong Spartacus is getting ready to conquer the world of dredging vessels. The Liebherr Components Division has played its part in this. In close cooperation with the development department of IHC, Liebherr has designed a wide spectrum of planetary plug-in gearboxes for cutter suction dredgers.

For the Spartacus, Liebherr and IHC also developed an anchor winch with two high-torque plug-in gears (up to 1,500,000 Nm) and equipped these with axial play, in order to guard against any possible tensions in the steel structure. The multiple tooth mesh of the planetary gear stages provides the gears' very high power density. The drum bearings in the transmission are designed specifically for use in winches to comply with high service life and maintenance-friendly operation requirements. Salt water-resistant paints and the particularly robust and compact design make them ideal for deployment on the high seas, and ensure the long life of the components. Liebherr conducted a detailed heat calculation and supported IHC in choosing a suitable cooling option.

"For the Spartacus project, we chose Liebherr planetary gearboxes, because of the good experience we already had with them," explains JaapJan de Koster, Lead Engineer at IHC.

All told, the Spartacus incorporates 12 different gears with torque ranging from 165,000 to 1,500,000 Nm in use. The overall high performance of the Spartacus will enable it to cut through even the harder sediments at high speeds. This was only a dream of the future, now cutting instead of blasting is a reality.

At Offshore Energy 2019 in Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Liebherr demonstrates its expertise in maritime solutions from 8th to 9th of October. The focus thereby lies on the new LPI gearbox generation and the slewing bearing portfolio. Visit us at booth 210 in hall 1 and get an insight into the world of Liebherr Components.

www.liebherr.com/gearboxes