Sixty years ago, in 1966, a small valve rolled through the production line in Nordborg for the very first time. It didn’t look like much, compact, almost shy, tucked deep inside refrigeration systems where no customer would ever notice it. But as history has shown, greatness is not always loud. The T2 became a quiet revolution.
This year, Danfoss proudly celebrates 60 years of a product that has shaped commercial refrigeration standards across the globe — and surpassed 65 million units produced worldwide.
The heart of refrigeration systems
From supermarkets and cold rooms to ice cream machines, heat pumps, and comfort cooling systems, the T2 continues to ensure stability, safety, and energy efficiency.
While technology has evolved, regulations have tightened, and new refrigerants have reshaped the industry, one fact remains unchanged:
The T2 simply works. Every day. Everywhere.
It quickly earned a reputation as the “heart” of refrigeration systems — rarely seen, yet critical to performance. As historical accounts describe it, “there is hardly a refrigeration system in the world where this valve does not play a key role.”
Unmatched for six decades, the T2 continues to define the industry benchmark for reliability, fail-safe design, and performance.
Foundations built on passion and precision
The roots of the T2 go back to 1933, when Mads Clausen developed Danfoss’ first expansion valve. Early innovations such as the TRV and TVJ laid the technological groundwork that would ultimately lead to the T2.
Engineers like Knud G. Hein shaped the engineering DNA behind the valve — driven by curiosity, craftsmanship, and an uncompromising commitment to quality.
When the T2 was introduced in the mid-1960s, it was described internally as “the little ugly duckling.” Yet within just a few years, its compact design, robustness, and stability won global recognition. It was designed right from the start — and by passionate people.
Adapting through decades of change
Few products survive unchanged through waves of industrial transformation. The T2 not only survived — it adapted. Across decades, the T2 was refined to meet new regulations, new refrigerants, environmental demands, quality standards, and production technologies.
Across six decades, it has been refined to meet:
- New refrigerant transitions following the Montreal Protocol
- Laser welding and engraving technologies
- Stainless steel capillary tubes and nickel-free designs for environmental compliance
- Automated production lines
- Global production expansion to China in 2008
- Digital selection and training tools, such as Danfoss Coolselector® and TXV tune
- Up to 8–10% energy savings when optimized
- New CO₂ thermostatic expansion valves to support low-GWP refrigerants
Entire generations of technology have come and gone. Regulations have rewritten refrigeration chemistry. Automation has transformed production. Digitalization now supports system sizing and installation.
And yet, the core concept of the T2 — simplicity, reliability, energy efficiency — remains intact.
Where other components were replaced, redesigned, or retired, the T2 continued. Sometimes improved, but never fundamentally changed. We often joke that the T2 is ‘the valve that refuses to grow old.
A legacy measured in impact
By its 50th anniversary in 2016, Danfoss had produced 50 million T2 valves. Over its first five decades, the valve contributed to an estimated 157,000 GWh in global energy savings — enough to power major nations for months.
Now, at 60 years and 65 million units, the T2 continues to protect compressors, reduce energy consumption, support new refrigerants, and help ensure food safety worldwide.
Its fail-safe design principles enabled it to protect systems during faults, earning the trust of engineers and technicians for generations.
The T2 is not just surviving. It’s thriving.
The Golden Egg: a new chapter in the book for an industry icon
The Golden Egg from Danfoss was originally released for the T2’s 50th anniversary. Through stories of dedicated individuals such as Svend Carl, Kaj Ohlsen, Henrik “Iron Henry” Denning, Svend Stuhr Jepsen, Ejner Kobberø Andersen, Chrestine Hermansen, and many others, the book captures the human spirit that shaped the T2’s evolution.
The book tells the industrial fairy tale of the Danfoss T2 thermostatic expansion valve, a modest, often unseen component that became one of the most successful and iconic products in Danfoss history. It traces the T2’s journey from its origins in the 1930s to its position, 60 years later, as an indispensable part of refrigeration systems around the world.
To mark this milestone, we are not only celebrating the past; we are also releasing a new online chapter as an appendix to The Golden Egg from Danfoss. In the new chapter, Niels Robert Arbjerg, Senior Vice President, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Controls highlights:
“These fundamentals have allowed the T2 to remain relevant and trusted across generations of refrigeration technology. If the T2 taught us anything over the past six decades, it is that reliability never goes out of style. While new technologies will continue to emerge, and Danfoss will innovate far beyond what anyone imagined in 1966, the T2 remains a symbol of what we stand for: Engineering a better future!”
With the online release of the new chapter about the T2, the 60‑year anniversary is both a celebration and a reminder: the T2 legacy continues because it keeps evolving.
We invite you to explore the full journey in The Golden Egg from Danfoss and discover the new appendix, revealing how a modest component became a global benchmark, here.
Engineering a better future
If the T2 has taught us anything over the past six decades, it is this: Reliability never goes out of style. While new technologies will continue to emerge and Danfoss will innovate far beyond what anyone imagined in 1966, the T2 remains a symbol of what we stand for — engineering excellence, craftsmanship, and trust.
Here’s to 60 years of the T2.
And to the millions more valves — and stories — still to come.