04/02/2021 | Press release

Rheinmetall wins orders for innovative fuel tank isolation valve for hybrid vehicles

The Düsseldorf-based technology group Rheinmetall has booked its first orders for an environmentally friendly fuel tank isolation valve, or FTIV. Valves of this type are used in modern plug-in hybrid vehicles, which generally feature a hermetically sealed tank system so that fuel fumes cannot escape when the vehicle is operating in electric mode. In the process, the FTIV also controls the pressure ratio in the fuel tank.

The latest orders for the valve come from well-known international automakers in Asia and Europe, and represent lifetime sales in excess of €10 million. Production of the FTIVs is scheduled to commence in early 2022 in Ústí nad Labem in the Czech Republic.

As Dr. Karsten Sonnenschein, head of the Magnetic Valves unit at Rheinmetall’s Pierburg subsidiary, puts it, “The fact that our new valve has been selling so well so soon after its market debut is due first of all to the extremely compact size of our components, which also happen to weigh less than any competing product.”

In today’s sealed fuel tank systems, overpressure and negative pressure develop depending on the operating situation and ambient temperature. The FTIV is normally a closed valve which opens electrically if required. It also features two mechanical bypasses that regulate the pressure ratio as soon as a defined level of overpressure or negative pressure is exceeded. This is why the FTIV is normally installed between the fuel tank and the activated carbon filter, letting it control the volume stream to the filter, which can be set to a maximum level. On account of its modular design, the FTIV can be equipped for numerous functions and adapted to meet a vast variety of operating specifications.