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6) Avoid snap loading the tether. This situation may easily occur when a slack tether is
reeled onto a motorized spool. Loads may peak at a very high value when the tether
snaps taunt. Another dangerous situation for snap loading is a tethered submersible
vehicle operated from a pitching ship.
There are a few proper and many improper ways to wind and unwind a tether. If
improper tether handling techniques are used the tether may become tangled, which
ultimately leads to kinking, trampling underfoot, and other tether damage. Following are
some suggestions for keeping the tether tidy and ready for deployment at any time.
1) The preferred tether storage and deployment method is to use a winch. For very long
tethers, this often becomes the only choice. It is important that the winch drum and
any pulleys or tackle supports the tether beyond its minimum bend diameter. Usually
one end of the tether is permanently attached to the drum and conductors brought out
with slip rings.
2) Shorter tethers may be stored and deployed from a box with a removable lid. If the
tether is to be deployed from a hanger system, make sure the hanger supports the
tether beyond its minimum bend diameter.
3) When coiling the tether in a box, put in the surface connector first so that the vehicle
connector is at the top of the coil. Start the coil at least 10 feet away from the surface
end of tether. This leaves some free tether from the bottom of the coil to quickly
connect to the power supply without unwinding or removing the coil.
4) When deploying the tether, a person should be available to tend the unwinding coils
to prevent kinks.
5) When coiling the tether, do not force the tether to twist. Doing so may damage the
tether or make it very difficult to manage. When a loop of tether is laid down in a
coil, the tether experiences an axial twist. This causes the next loop to preferentially
lay in the opposite direction. Thus, any given tether loop will have a self-preferred
winding direction – left or right.
accommodated as shown below by allowing the loops to turn under themselves. This
creates loops in both coiling directions and any twist in the tether is canceled in the
subsequent loop.
August, 2014
Both winding directions may be easily
Left Hand Loop
Proper Tether Winding Technique
http://www.videoray.com
18
Right Hand Loop
Version 1.0, Rev. C
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