The part in the photo looked very familiar. I went to my "secondary" desk behind me and picked up the part. The photo looks identical except mine has a hole for safety wire. The inner part is made up of two 180 degree parts, each with a "thread" cut on the inside and the clamp holds both parts together. It is used on a Gulfstream G1 turboprop 40kw auxillary power unit. The plane itself was built in 1958! This mechanism was designed so one mechanic could hold the heavy generator in place while another attached the "nut" to remove the loading. The strap holds it all in place and is safety wired to prevent it from coming apart unexpectedly in the air, always bad juju! It was no doubt an expensive part. It appears that auto manufacturers have found a cheaper was to fabricate them, but it is most certainly not new.
I followed the Spiralock link to it's Technology page. The thread shape is interesting. But I agree, at best it is just a mating of two existing technologies.
Spiralok has been around for a long time, but engineering folks need to be reminded or newly presented with this product's capability, every so often. I still have a Spirolok demonstration assembly on my desk. It reminds me of this potential solution, every time I glance at it. Many coworkers have picked it up and examined it, over the years.
I believe you missed the point they are trying to make. I would blame the author for not showing an illustration of the thread form. It is not the V-Band Clamp that they are talking about as new. It is the thread form that they refer to as Spiralock. By the way, this thread form is not new either. Someone just seem to be promoting it for a new found application.
Way back (late 1960's) when I worked summers as a part-time janitor for a school district, they had cleaning supplies deliverd in fibre drums (sweeping compound, etc). The lids on these drums were retained with exactly the same form device with the band in a U or V form to lock the lid to the top rim of the drum and with either a draw screw or over-center-snap link to draw thins tight.
OK this is a high temp alloy as needed by the application, but this is not new.
I agree, Rob. This is going to be an important part of getting the CAFE up to 54.5 because it enables automakers to put smaller engines in their cars and trucks.
I agree Naperlou. With all of the attention on the innovation going into EVs and hybrids, I think some of the innovation on traditional gas engines is getting overlooked. In the long run, improved internal combustion engines may save more gas than electric vehicles.
Rob, that's just what I have been saying! It is interesting that in Formula 1 racing the turbocharged engines are limited to 1.5L as oppossed to the naturally aspirated engines at 3.0L. Just an aside, these engines put out over 700HP. We can get the horsepower we need to drive our vehicles with less fuel, but it will take lots of engineering to make them as reliable as the current engines. This is just one good example of an engineering "detail" that is critical to success.
Sounds like this is another move toward greater gas mileage as well as a better clamp. If you can get V8 performance out of a V6, we're moving in the right direction.
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