The Future of Turbocharger Reconditioning In May, the 8th International Conference of Turbochargers and Turbocharging was held by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London. The conference is organised every 4 years - Ian Warhurst, Managing Director and Mark Tindall, Development Engineer from Melett were in attendance at the 2 day conference. "It was an interesting event as it gave us a change to view the industry at the cutting edge of development and see what new designs are heading for the Aftermarket in 3 to 10 years time" reports Ian. "To summarise two very long days of lectures, the general conclusion was that there are no serious developments heading for OE production that could prevent reconditioning the majority of turbochargers as we know it. Electronic actuation could be a problem but the industry is already aware of this and looking to solve this problem. The turbo is already considered to be a highly developed piece of Engineering and the major leaps forward that are possible e.g. Electrical assisted boosting and air/magnetic bearings, are not actually reaching production because of issues like reliability and cost vs benefit."
"The great news is that the market growth predictions are phenomenal - quoted from published figures, the number of new turbos produced worldwide in 2000 was approximately 8.5 million units. The number predicted for 2007 is approximately 16 million units. If you think you are busy now - just look what's coming!" Sourced from Melett - Quality Replacement Turbocharger Parts - Issue 3 | 
