Business and Industry - Kelvin Hughes - Private Company

by Jim
Situated on New North Road, west and north, is the Kelvin Hughes International Headquarters which contains the complete in house manufacturing, research, development and office facilities of Kelvin Hughes, part of the Smith’s Instrument group of companies. Kelvin Hughes is a World-renowned manufacturer in the Marine navigational aid Industry and is one of the major local employers in Hainault.

Whilst Kelvin Hughes has their HQ in the Hainault Ward they have outport stations in Southampton and Glasgow, UK – Ijumiden and Rotterdam, Netherlands – Arhaus, Denmark – Singapore, Far East and Shanghai, Peoples Republic of China.

In response to the International Maritime Organisation’s proposed future legislation regarding safety onboard vessels of various types and ages at present trading, Kelvin Hughes have developed their own design of the Simplified – Voyage Data Recorder (S – VDR). This safety unit is the marine answer to the avionic black box and this now means that Smiths Instrument Group have a black box for air and sea and is a unique feat for one Group to have type approval from worldwide authorities for both versions.

The marine data recorder has been around for some 10 to 12 years and the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, UK was the first in the marine industry of having this safety kit retro-fitted to their vessels.

Meanwhile in a positive action, Kelvin Hughes, to maintain their World leadership in this field have appointed as a special adviser, Chris Winkley, who has extensive experience of data recorders as he was a pioneer team member in the fitting of such devices to the vessels of P&O Cruises.

The result of fitting such devices will enhance safety at sea as they will continuously monitor hull stresses and the status of bow doors and stern doors and alleviate the future losses of such vessels as the m.v. Derbyshire, Ro-Ro m.v. Estonia and the Ro-Ro m.v. Herald of Free Enterprise. 

The drawing shows the various inputs into the Interface Box and the uninterruptible power supply and the outputs from the IB into a float free or fixed S-VDR. The specifications for such recorders are very high in that they can normally withstand temperatures in the region of 1000 degrees celsius and their standard body protection is normally IP66.

(see:www.svdr.com)
(see:www.kelvinhughes.com).

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