FROM a prestigious engineering award to real commercialisation: a radical new CV joint design by Orange company Thompson Coupling is putting country NSW on the global map.
In winning the win the prestigious Bradfield Prize for Engineering Excellence from the Sydney Chapter of Engineers Australia, the unique Thompson Coupling beat off stiff competition from the likes of the Telstra Next G Network, the Orica Botany Ground Water Redemption Project, the Warragamba Dam Deep Water Recovery Project and the new M7 Motorway.
According to Engineers Australia Sydney Division president Warren Newell, the Thompson Coupling is a “a truly revolutionary piece of engineering”.
The Thompson Coupling is a fundamental mechanical engineering advance that does away with the compromises of conventional CV joints currently found in millions of applications around the world.
Invented by Glenn Thompson, the coupling connects rotating drive-shafts at different angles, without the vibration, friction, energy loss and rapid wear associated with the conventional CV joints and universal joints currently installed in millions of applications around the world.
It will enable engineers to design a whole new era of lighter, more efficient, more durable and sustainable machines wherever rotational power is transferred — entire industries such as automotive, mining, marine, aeronautics, manufacturing, defense and more will benefit.
The company already has patents in the United States, Russia, China, South Africa, Singapore and New Zealand with more pending.
The “Bradfield” win comes only weeks after the company also won the Gold Prize at the Society of Automotive Engineers Australasia (SAE-A) 2007 Automotive Engineering Excellence Awards for its breakthrough new constant velocity joint that transmits torque between rotating shafts with remarkable efficiency and energy savings.
Commercial orders for the company’s products are now being received and they are currently negotiating a wide range of projects and joint ventures with potential alliance partners from around the world.
A current assignment for Thomspon is to produce a constant velocity coupling for a mining industry application where the coupling will have to operate 25m underwater in a thick and highly abrasive slurry of fine sand, meanwhile transmitting a huge 60,000N metre of torque.
For more information visit the Thompson Coupling website at http://www.cvcoupling.com