A review of vertical motion heave compensation systems

• We examine the history of passive and active heave compensation.
• We compare and contrast hydraulic and electric winch drive systems.
• We derive passive compensator equations and examine systems with respect to them.
• We discuss methods of active heave control up to modern systems.
• We recommend further research in predictive control to improve active heave systems.

This paper provides a comprehensive review of vertical heave motion compensation systems used on ocean vessels from the early 1970s up to, and including, modern systems. Specifically, this review provides details on passive heave compensation, active heave compensation, hybrid active–passive heave compensation systems, and wave synchronization systems along with detailed explanations of the most common motion actuation methods, control schemes, and heave motion decoupling potential found with each. Based on the results of this review, it is recommended that more experimental work be carried out on real-world systems to experimentally validate the active heave compensation controllers being designed and simulated in literature. It is also suggested that future work involving model-predictive control may be used to further improve upon the performance of the current active heave compensation systems.