Air Pressure – Maintenance Systems

Checkmate Flexible Engineering’s Air Pressure Maintenance System ensures less movement in the whole stow and has been proven to reduce the overall number of airbags needed, saving money and ensuring safety during transit. Its cost effectiveness is proven – this is demonstrated by its sales success with hundreds of systems supplied.

When using airbags to secure cargo, they may lose air due to minor damage or seepage as they get older and they also experience large variations in pressure due to changes in atmospheric pressure and temperature during a passage. Additionally, certain cargoes can compress during transit due to accelerations in pitch, roll and yaw, opening gaps between the cargo and leading to movement of the stow. In the most serious cases very valuable cargos may be completely ruined.

The solution is our manifold Air Pressure Maintenance System, which keeps airbags correctly inflated at all times with no need for crew intervention. The system rapidly inflates up to thirty airbags simultaneously, using the ship’s own dried air supply and then maintains the pressure to a pre-set value for the duration of the voyage, ensuring the sustained security of the stow. It is also designed to cope with critical events, including air leaks of up to 5 litres/minute. Should any bags burst or leak excessively, inline control valves ensure that pressure is accurately maintained in those remaining intact.

Sealed at the time of manufacture with no maintenance required under normal operating conditions for 5 years, at which point units should be returned for servicing.

In 2018, as the size of pulp carrying vessels increased, CFE has introduced an advanced 30 outlet manifold system in addition to the standard 20 outlets currently available. This unit has the benefit of being the same size as the existing 20 outlet unit with only a small increase in weight.
The Checkmate system is mandated for use with cargoes being shipped by the world’s largest pulp producer.