Gas measurement company Chell Instruments has revealed its latest development in its aluminium pneumatic connector range – the High Density Aluminium Quick Disconnect.
The High Density Aluminium Quick Disconnect (AQDC-HD) connector, connects and disconnects pneumatic lines and pipes easily and hassle-free says Chell.
While its predecessor, the Aluminium Quick Disconnect, can connect between 8 and 32 gas lines, the AQDC-HD has room for 19 to 73. It also features the company’s locking mechanism to resist vibration.
Chell Instruments created the versatile connector to meet stringent aerospace environmental requirements and speed up system installation and reconfiguration.
Nick Broadley, managing director at Chell Instruments said, “It seemed logical to create a lightweight aluminium quick disconnector after the success of the Stainless-Steel Quick Disconnect [SQDC].”
“The SQDC was designed after visiting a leading aircraft engine manufacturer and discovering that during the testing process, when they wanted to dismantle an engine and all the piping, potentially 300 pipes or so had to be cut off and replaced.”
By using the SQDC engineers at the company can simply undo the coupling, work on the engine and then reconnect the pipe work. The AQDC-HD simplifies this further with its light-weight, quick and reliable method of making an even greater number of pneumatic connections.
Designed for a range of applications, across industries, the High Density Aluminium Quick Disconnect can be used in harsh environments at working temperatures between -55 to 100C.
According to Chell Instruments the connectors save time and reduce costs for the testing of R&D aero engines.
“This is another important innovation for Chell and our customers” said Broadley. “It’s amazing the technology which our equipment is used to test and develop, so we need to be just as focused on improving what we do and finding ever-smarter solutions”.
