Technofast Industries took out the Innovative Australian Product of the Year award for its High Temperature Hydraulic Nuts (HTHN).

High temperature hydraulic nut technology has been successfully commercialised internationally by a number of industries with Technofast concentrating on the nuclear and gas turbine generating industries. The technology is said to be vastly superior in speed, accuracy and operator safety in relation to existing heat elongation methods of tensioning; what in the past could take days to accurately tension the company claims can be completed within hours. 

Hydraulic tensioning has been used previously in industry because of its accuracy and efficiency; however the range of applications has been restricted because of the suitability of seal materials. According to the manufacturers, the HTHN’s metal seals have dramatically expanded the range of industrial applications for hydraulic tensioning. 

HTHNs have been marketed to nuclear utilities in the US and elsewhere applications for the technology have been adopted by industries including mining, oil and gas, materials handling and process engineering.