Quick disconnect coupling

A quick connect-disconnect coupling (QCDC) is the clamping head at the end of a marine loading arm that grips the tanker’s manifold flange and seals it for cargo or LNG transfer without manual bolting. A hydraulic QCDC drives all clamp segments from a single cylinder to lock the arm to the flange in seconds, against the roughly twenty minutes a bolted spool needs; a manual QCDC is operated by wrench. For LNG and cryogenic service the head is alloy-built and tested to ISO 16904 and the OCIMF marine-loading-arm specification for service down to around -200 C. It cuts operator time at the manifold, reduces the snap-load risk during emergency release, and works with the powered emergency-release coupling on the arm.