Danfoss’s iconic TRV turns 75
In 1943, the founder of Danfoss, Mads Clausen, invented the world’s first radiator thermostat. And 75 years on, the iconic product is more relevant than ever.
There are more than 500 million radiators with manual and unregulated valves in Europe alone. If you installed radiator thermostats on them all, Europeans could save Euro 12 billion and 130TWh of energy every year. The upgrade would reduce Europe’s annual CO2 emissions by 29 billion tons, and the investment would pay for itself in just two years – according to a report from the European Building Automation Controls Association.
Danfoss chairman Jørgen Mads says: “The first prototype of the world’s first radiator thermostat was tested in my father’s office. It was the birth of the world’s first thermostatic valve for controlling the temperature in a room. The actual marketing began in 1952, when the radiator thermostat was launched as ‘a device that saves money and makes centrally heated rooms more comfortable’, and from there on it just took off.”
The product was patented and Danfoss began mass production of the radiator thermostat. Since 1943, approximately 350 million have rolled off the company’s production line. The latest version is the intelligent radiator thermostat Danfoss Eco™.
Anders Barkholt, vice-president of Danfoss Radiator Thermostats says: “It is a strength for Danfoss to have been on the market for so many years, and there is an abundance of Danfoss DNA and cultural heritage in even our brand new electronic thermostats. Mads Clausen developed the leading technology in temperature regulation, and the intuitive turning motion of the thermostat that makes it so easy to use.”