Clean Winch

The clean winch is designed to perform seawater sampling in the ocean for the purpose of analysing its composition for trace metals. Trace metals being present in such tiny quantities in the water column, the absolute priority during sampling is to avoid any contamination by other metals. This winch is therefore reserved exclusively for a GEOTRACES-type clean rosette (titanium CTD body and rosette, teflon-coated bottles).

The inside of the drum and the sheaves of the two blocks associated with the winch are coated in a synthetic material which protects the cable.

This winch can be installed and operated on all the ships of the French and European deep-sea fleet. It can be operated in temperatures ranging from -10 °C to +40 °C. It is fitted with an electromechanical cable which is 8000 m long and 14 mm in diameter. The nominal breaking load is 750 kg (WLL). It must not be used for towing.