Danfoss is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its popular TU stainless steel thermostatic expansion valve—trusted for the most demanding refrigeration applications by OEMs and installers worldwide.
With more than 15 million valves sold since its launch in 1995, TU's combination of high precision and unique stainless-steel construction has made it a staple of cold-chain systems in particular.
Equipment manufacturers have come to value the TU's robustness, reliability and consistent performance in challenging environments, using it everywhere from refrigerated shipping containers and trucks/trailers to ice makers and ice cream machines.
Moreover, the valve's flexible design allows customization for a wide variety of applications, sizes, refrigerants and connections. A more recent innovation enables each valve to be OEM/custom laser-engraved with its exact configuration, ensuring the correct version is always used. A newly developed low-GWP bulb charge also helps significantly reduce CO2 emissions.
The TU is no less popular with installers. Its heat-resistant stainless-steel casing and bi-metal connections makes it easy to braze, with no need for time-consuming wet wrapping.
While the valve was first designed in response to the original Montreal protocol agreement, the resulting hermetically sealed construction also make it ideal for today's refrigerant transition challenges, like handling A2L refrigerants without leakage. The TU remains a key part of Danfoss's work to qualify the widest possible portfolio of components for all viable low-GWP alternatives.
The TU valve anniversary celebration embodies Danfoss's passion and unique expertise in designing top-end expansion devices—including other iconic valves like the T2 and ETS Colibri—that meet the most stringent application and regulatory requirements.
"The TU is one of the crown jewels of our thermostatic expansion range," says Arpit Sharma, Danfoss Global Product Portfolio Manager for Expansion Valves.
"Manufacturers love it because of its high degree of quality and reliability exhibited in the field. And like all Danfoss expansion valves, its accurate to a very narrow set point, which means even systems in challenging environments can be energy efficient too."
"It's fitting that a valve Danfoss developed to protect the environment is still at the forefront of reducing direct and indirect impact from the refrigeration industry, today and into the future."
TU stainless steel thermostatic expansion valves are used for liquid injection into evaporators on both refrigeration and air conditioning systems using fluorinated refrigerants.