29.09.2022 | Press release

A new €20 million order for advanced divert-air systems expands Rheinmetall’s role as a top supplier to a well-known automaker. What began as a small order has since grown continuously, with order volume reaching a two-digit million-euro figure in the meantime. The customer is one of the world’s five largest carmakers, making it a heavyweight in the industry, and the source of several recent incoming orders Group subsidiary Pierburg.

Production will once again take place at Pierburg’s plant in Neuss, Germany, where an existing assembly line was rebuilt a few years ago to produce new variants and accommodate several customers simultaneously. “We’re very happy about this repeat order, which reconfirms our valve’s excellent performance”, declares Dr Karsten Sonnenschein, Vice President Solenoid Valves, adding that “Good quality keeps customers coming back. This is the way to build strong, sustained business relationships.” .

The Turbo Bypass Valve (TBV) Gen 6 is the latest generation of the air-divert valve. It is used in exhaust gas turbochargers in combustion engines as well as in hybrid vehicles. It prevents excessive boost pressure following a load change in charged motors, which can cause noise and damage the turbocharger. It goes into action whenever the accelerator pedal is released and the throttle flap is closed. The valve governs pressure recoil by dissipating the air rearwards via the compressor until a stable pressure ratio with positive volume flow is re-established.

During this process, the air-divert system activates a bypass around the compressor wheel. The bypass must be so large that the pressure in the intake manifold drops quickly enough to keep the turbocharger away from the surge limit. This results in improved responsiveness following shifting. Moreover, thanks to the turbo bypass valve, the process prevents damage to the turbocharger and avoids pump noises. Efficient shifting reduces fuel consumption, which in turn leads to lower emissions.

An early entrant into this technology, today Pierburg is the world market leader in this segment by a wide margin. Its customer base for this product includes all the major automakers as well as prominent turbocharger producers. In China alone, more than forty manufacturers now use air-divert valves from Pierburg.

The order package perpetuates the Group’s success to date in facilitating the transformation to alternative drives. As a proven technology partner, Rheinmetall has been contributing for many years to technological optimization in pursuit of the sought-after Energy Revolution.