Design and Development of a Hydraulic Powerpack-Driven Boom Reel System for Oil Spill Containment Applications

Abstract

Oil spill incidents create serious risks for marine ecosystems, coastal infrastructure, industrial operations, and environmental safety. In emergency oil spill response, containment booms must be deployed and retrieved quickly to restrict the spread of floating oil. Manual boom handling is slow, unsafe, and difficult, especially when the boom becomes waterlogged or exposed to wave and current action. This paper presents the design and development of a hydraulic powerpack-driven boom reel system for oil spill containment applications. The proposed system is intended to handle a 3.5-ton operational load, operate at a controlled reel speed close to 7 RPM, and support high-torque boom retrieval under industrial working conditions. The system consists of a heavy-duty boom reel frame, rotating drum, support structure, shaft, bearings, hydraulic motor, gearbox, diesel engine-driven hydraulic powerpack, flow control valve, pressure control elements, filtration unit, and safety components. The design was developed using mechanical design principles, 3D modelling, frame design, hydraulic circuit planning, and preliminary Fusion 360 structural simulation. The hydraulic drive calculation was performed for an OMSU 200 hydraulic motor, 15 LPM available flow, 215 bar pressure, and 6.1:1 gearbox reduction. The calculation showed an estimated motor torque of 122 Nm at 15 LPM, output speed of 12.17 RPM with one gearbox, and 6.14 RPM when the flow is divided between two gear motors. The calculated gearbox output torque was approximately 744.2 Nm, indicating that further drivetrain optimization is required to fully satisfy the 2700 Nm target torque. The preliminary cost estimation of the boom reel was found to be approximately ₹1,80,000 to ₹2,50,000. The study demonstrates that a hydraulic powerpack-driven boom reel can reduce manual effort, improve operational safety, ensure controlled boom handling, and provide a practical foundation for industrial oil spill response equipment.