Van der Lee Turbo Systems is a niche player in the turbocharger industry that offers high-end technical solutions in matching, design, development, testing and manufacturing of turbo systems for every conceivable purpose. Their turbochargers are found in various marine and automotive engines as well as all Formula 2 cars.
BUMAX chosen to ensure quality
Van der Lee Turbo Systems uses a wide variety of BUMAX fasteners in the turbochargers it manufactures, depending on where the fasteners are and what specific properties are required.
“The main reason we use BUMAX is that we can control the quality of the fasteners as they have their own manufacturing, compared with other suppliers that can only provide a guarantee for the delivery against a DIN Norm, which simply isn’t strict enough for us,” explains Jaap van der Lee, Managing Director of Van der Lee Turbo Systems.
Most suppliers trade parts from different suppliers, which leads to a high variability in fastener properties. Unlike most suppliers, BUMAX can ensure quality and minimize variation as all its high-quality fasteners are manufactured the same way and to the highest standards.
“As an IATF 16949 accredited company, all our internal and outsourced processes need to be fixed to assure the quality between each individual part of our turbochargers,” says Van der Lee. “Quality is required to guarantee performance in our turbochargers that are the product of years of testing with a precisely controlled configuration. As variation in one of our components could lead to failure of the entire turbocharger, we must reduce variability as much as possible.”
Demanding turbocharging fastener applications
Turbochargers operate under highly demanding conditions and need to endure temperature cycles that can rapidly increase to over 1,000 °C. Reliable high-strength and temperature-resistant fasteners are essential, as well as corrosion resistance depending on where the fastener is located. Lightweight is also an important property for motorsport applications that BUMAX fasteners can accommodate.
Latest order for 180,000 fasteners for marine turbocharger
BUMAX has signed an agreement to supply Van der Lee Turbo Systems with 180,000 BUMAX® HE fasteners to fix the turbocharger heat shield. The M6x13 flange bolts with a strength of 10.9 will be used on a turbocharger assembled to an outboard Diesel engine. BUMAX® HE is a high temperature resistant material for applications requiring high strength and good oxidation resistance at high temperatures.
“We will continue to use a range BUMAX fasteners for all our turbocharger applications,” says Van der Lee. “There is simply no other company capable of cost-effectively supplying the volumes and the quality we need.”
