World First For Australia
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday February 6, 2008
Thompson Coupling is a breakthrough in engine power transfer.
It's only small but this one piece of machinery is set to revolutionise not only motoring but many other industries.The Thompson Coupling was the winner of last year's prestige prize - the Bradfield Award - at Engineering Australia's (Sydney Division) Engineering Excellence Awards and was one of a host of world-class innovations in technical design and manufacture indicative of the work of Australian engineers.The coupling was designed and manufactured in Orange by Thompson Couplings and is the world's first and only true constant-velocity shaft coupling with no load-bearing surfaces.Its inventor, Glenn Thompson, director of Thompson Couplings, says the coupling solves a 400-year-old engineering puzzle by allowing power to be transmitted from one shaft to another in an engine at a constant velocity. The basic design of couplings has not changed since the 1600s, Thompson says, and presently the two shafts in an engine rotate at an angle creating friction and subsequent heat. The Thompson Coupling eliminates this while at the same time reducing fuel use.As with previous Bradfield Award winners - including last year's, the Westlink M7 Motorway project - the Thompson Coupling shows not just to Australia, but also the world, the vital work being done by NSW engineers of all persuasions."The excellence awards provide the opportunity to show the innovation and high level of expertise across the full range of engineering disciplines in our profession," says Warren Newell, Sydney division president."The awards offer chances through the various categories to recognise engineering research, product and system development, project management, manufacturing and innovations and inventions." The pinnacle of these awards is the Bradfield named after John Job Crew Bradfield, the man responsible for the design and construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge."The awards program provides an opportunity to encourage excellence through the identification and promotion, both within the profession and the community at large, for outstanding achievements in the advancement of the science and practice of engineering," Newell says. "They recognise the commitment engineers make to the wellbeing of the community, the excellent levels of engineering achieved and the innovative work being performed every day by the engineering profession."More so than ever, last year's award winners highlighted just how important engineering is to the community with projects that included water harvesting, mobile communications and solar technology.The Warragamba Deep Water Recovery Project, one of last year's winners, is providing access to previously inaccessible deep water towards the bottom of Warragamba Dam. In combination with a second project at Nepean Dam, will provide an extra six months' water supply for the greater Sydney area in the event of continuing severe drought and an additional water supply system yield of about 40 billion litres a year.The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation's new Open Pool Australian Light-Water Reactor, another category winner, will benefit Australia through the production of a full range of reactor-produced medical radioisotopes and neutron-beam research facilities that are sought by the international science community.This year's awards will be launched tonight at the Powerhouse Museum, in Ultimo.Entry to the 2008 Engineering Excellence Awards is a two-level process. After consideration by a panel of judges, level-one entrants will be notified of their progress and those who qualify will be invited to submit a level-two entry. All entrants invited to enter level two automatically become category finalists. Winners of the 2008 Engineering Excellence Awards will be announced on September 19, at a gala dinner at The Westin Sydney for about 650 guests.As in past years, category winners will have the opportunity to have their work on display at the Powerhouse Museum.The 2007 Engineering Excellence Awards exhibit will be officially opened tonight in the museum's success and innovation gallery and will feature the Thompson Coupling (Bradfield winner); Warragamba Dam Deep Water Recovery Project; ANSTO Reactor; University Of Notre Dame mosaic wall (president's award winner); the Sunswift 111 solar car from the University of NSW; and MonkeyBar reinforcing concrete rods.The exhibit will remain open until October. For more information on the 2008 Engineering Excellence Awards, see www.eea-sydney.org.au or phone Robyn Worthing on 9410 5612.Home town backs inventor's dream GLENN THOMPSON says he can't claim to be an engineer, even though his Thompson Coupling won last year's top gong at the Engineering Australia (Sydney Division) Engineering Excellence Awards.But the man who designed this new piece of technology, which is about to go into production and is expected to have applications in industries as diverse as farming, power, automotive and aeronautical, doesn't have an engineering degree from any university."But I read vastly and widely, so in that sense I consider myself an engineer. I have always been interested in engines in all things from airplanes to radios."After only a few years of working in the fledgling computer industry, Thompson wrote a software program that he sold throughout Australia. Soon after, he started thinking about the small component that is set to make him a worldwide phenomenon in the engineering industry. Thompson finally "cracked it" in 2002.After making a prototype of the coupling, he found support from people and businesses in his home town of Orange. "The people of Orange got behind me and invested in it, several hundred people gave us funding. In 2002 we got front page stories in two magazines in Europe, which was unheard of. People realised the importance of this innovation."
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald