A heavy equipment recovery winch system includes a winch assembly mountable to a drive end of a heavy equipment vehicle, a hydraulic assembly and a fairlead assembly. The hydraulic assembly is mounted to a portion of the heavy equipment vehicle and the hydraulic assembly is operatively connected to the winch assembly. The fairlead assembly is mountable to the drive end of the heavy equipment vehicle to assist with guiding a cable from the winch assembly.

A system and method that is configured to automatically control a spooling of a drum of a deployment unit used in hydrocarbon recovery operations. The method may comprise obtaining data related to a sensor and measurements system connected to the deployment unit. Processing the data obtained by the sensor and measurements system in a processing unit that makes a stochastic inference. Controlling an auto spooling of the drum of the deployment unit through an auto-spooling controller connected to the deployment unit based upon the stochastic inference.

A machine includes a frame, ground-engaging elements coupled to the frame, and a hoisting system having a sideboom and a fairlead. The hoisting system also includes a hook pulley block and a hoisting cable extending through the fairlead and the hook pulley block and held in tension such that the hoisting cable couples pivoting of the fairlead to pivoting of the sideboom. The pivotable fairlead may be instrumented with position, cable loading, and cable feed sensors.

A fairlead assembly for use with a vehicle-mounted winch and cable, the fairlead assembly is adapted to guide and control the cable as it is spooled in or out by the winch. The fairlead assembly is attached to the vehicle, and comprises a pair of horizontal rollers positioned in parallel and separated by a cable guide space, along with a pair of vertical rollers positioned to the right and left of the cable guide space. The horizontal and vertical rollers control the vertical and horizontal motion of the cable within the cable guide space. The vertical and horizontal rollers may have coplanar central axes, allowing the fairlead assembly to have a reduced profile. The vertical rollers may also each comprise a cable control groove to guide and control the horizontal and vertical motion of the cable when the winch and cable are employed to execute a sideways pull.

The present disclosure discloses a winch for a vehicle including a base, a winding drum fixed on the base for winding a traction rope, a support fixed on the base, a transmission component, and a reciprocating component for driving the traction rope to reciprocate along an axial direction of the winding drum when the traction rope is wound onto or released from the winding drum. The disclosed winch enables an orderly arrangement of the traction rope when the traction rope is wound on or released from the winding drum.

A reactive tether spool comprises a drum, a signal cable, a drum actuator, a tension sensor, and a controller. The signal cable transports power and a control signal to a UAV. A controller receives a tension measurement from the tension sensor and controls the drum actuator to maintain a determined tension on the signal cable while performing at least one of the following: dispensing the signal cable; holding the signal cable steady; and collecting the signal cable.

A cable guide device, including a cable with one end attached to an unwinding/rewinding device, another end having structure for accepting applied force, with cable therebetween guided by a cable guide, wherein as force is applied to the cable, the cable guide causes redirection of the applied force eliminating cable binding as cable is rewound. One embodiment is a trunnion-sheave winch-apparatus for object recovery, including: a trunnion-sheave of a pair of sheaves with cable inserted therebetween, one cable end attached to a winch drum with a hook attached to its other end for connection to an object being recovered, wherein as the object is recovered the force applied to the cable is redirected by the trunnion-sheave causing said cable to be maintained at a minimum of 90? contact with the pair of sheaves regardless of the angle of force being applied to the cable causing elimination of cable binding.

An apparatus for providing reliable line traction spooling for hoists, winches, and other pulling and/or lifting devices is disclosed. In one embodiment, such an apparatus includes a motor and a drum rotated by the motor to draw in or let out a line from the drum. The drum includes a groove formed in an outer surface thereof to accommodate the line. A roller is provided to place pressure on the line against the drum. A roller consists of at least one indentation or protrusion on an outer surface to assist the drum in spooling the line onto and off of the drum. In certain embodiments, the roller is patterned in order to improve line traction. In other embodiments, a line is compressible in order to improve line traction.

The present invention is an apparatus, system and method for use for winding and unwinding reels having a level wind carriage adapted to lay a cable back and forth across a drum of a spool by changing travel direction when contacting a first ring and a second ring of a tripping bar respectively.

A system includes two or more lifting devices attached to a structure each lifting device having a drum rotated by a motor to draw in or let out a line from the drum. The drum includes a groove formed in an outer surface thereof to accommodate the line. In certain embodiments, each of the lifting devices are quickly and easily detachable from the structure by way of a flange and mounting bracket. The flange and mounting bracket have holes which are coaxially aligned. A pin or other fastener is used to join the flange and mounting bracket together. Two or more lifting devices may be connected to and moved along a mounting bracket.