IHI Centrifugal Compressor History: 170 Years from Shipyard to IHI-Sullair Suzhou (1853–2026)
Ishikawajima Shipyard (1853) → Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (1960) → 1970 licence-agreement TA series → 1994 world's smallest Tx breakthrough → 2004 IHI-Sullair Suzhou JV → 2024 new f-series factory. The long road to one of the world's top-three centrifugal compressor makers — and what that history means when you need spare parts for a T2A, TXA, TRA, TRE or TRX machine today.
Why this history matters to a parts buyer
Open the compressor room at a refinery, air-separation plant, petrochemical complex or electronics factory anywhere in Asia, the Middle East or Europe, and the odds are good that one of the machines carries the nameplate IHI, IHI-Sullair, or sometimes just Sullair. What unites all of them is the same Japanese-designed centrifugal core — the same bull-gear-and-pinion architecture, the same tilting-pad bearing geometry, the same titanium-impeller manufacturing know-how that IHI honed first in jet engines and turbochargers, then applied to industrial compressors.
More than 10,000 IHI turbocompressors have been shipped since the TA series debut in 1970 (the WN reciprocating line has another 12,000+ units). Every one of them is on a predictable overhaul cycle — which is why knowing whether your machine belongs to the T2A, TXA, TRA, TRE or TRX family is the first step to sourcing the right bearings, impellers, intercoolers and seals.
The company lineage at a glance
| Period | Company / brand | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 1853–1876 | Ishikawajima Shipyard | Founded on order of the Tokugawa Shogunate after Commodore Perry's arrival; built Japan's first domestically produced steamship in 1863. |
| 1876–1907 | Ishikawajima Hirano Shipyard | Privatised; expanded into heavy machinery beyond shipbuilding. |
| 1907–1960 | Ishikawajima Heavy Industries & Harima Shipbuilding & Engineering | Two independent heavy-industry giants; Ishikawajima opened aircraft production in 1924, Harima specialised in large marine vessels. |
| 1960–2007 | Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (IHI) | Merger creates Japan's largest heavy-industry manufacturer; enters jet engines (1957) and reciprocating compressors (1954); first turbocompressor TA series launched in 1970. |
| 2007–2017 | IHI Corporation | Shortens name to IHI Corporation; 2004 IHI-Sullair Suzhou JV begins production; 2009 TRATM series launched; 2014 T3 series. |
| 2017–today | IHI Rotating Machinery Engineering Co., Ltd. | IHI Group spins off its entire rotating machinery business into an independent subsidiary (1 Oct 2017); compressor R&D and production stay in Tatsuno, Nagano, while IHI-Sullair Suzhou supplies the Asian market. New f-series factory in Suzhou Suxiang opens in 2024. |
From shipyard tools to world-class turbomachinery (1853–1969)
IHI began not as a compressor maker but as a shipyard. Founded in 1853, it spent its first century mastering large-scale metalwork, precision machining and steam-engine technology. After the 1960 Ishikawajima–Harima merger, IHI leveraged its jet-engine know-how (it had been making parts for the V2500 and GE90 since the 1960s) to enter the industrial compressor market. Its first products were reciprocating compressors — the WN series (1954) eventually reached 12,000+ units — and a series of pioneering cryogenic machines: the world's first LNG boil-off-gas reciprocating compressor at −160°C (1969), which earned the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers Technology Prize.
But the big shift came in 1970, when IHI signed a licence agreement with a European turbomachinery firm and launched its first integrally geared centrifugal air compressor — the TA series. From that licence base, IHI quickly merged its own aero-engine aerodynamics with the bull-gear-and-pinion layout, and within a decade had expanded the TA family into the T2A, T3A, TXA, TRA, TRE and TRX platforms that remain in production today.
Timeline of the centrifugal compressor product line
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1853 | Ishikawajima Shipyard founded — the roots of IHI |
| 1954 | WN reciprocating compressor series launched (12,000+ units shipped to date) |
| 1958 | First turbocompressor — 4,000 kW axial-flow blast-furnace blower |
| 1960 | Ishikawajima & Harima merge → Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) |
| 1969 | World's first LNG boil-off-gas reciprocating compressor (−160°C) — Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers Technology Prize |
| 1970 | Licence agreement → TA series launched — IHI's first integrally geared centrifugal air compressor |
| 1971 | TW oil-injected screw compressor series launched |
| 1970s–1980s | TA series evolves into full model family: T2A, T3A, TXA, TRA, TRE, TRX |
| 1994 | World's smallest geared centrifugal compressor — Tx series launched; Japan Industrial Machinery Manufacturers' Association Excellent Product Award; mass production starts at Tatsuno Plant |
| 2001 | GP water-lubricated screw compressor series launched (another Excellent Product Award) |
| 2004 | IHI-Sullair Compression Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. JV established (IHI 51%, Shenzhen Sullair Asia 49%) |
| 2006 | IHI-Sullair Suzhou factory completed; key parts supply to global market begins |
| 2007 | IHI shortens corporate name to IHI Corporation |
| 2009 | TRATM series launched — IHI's most compact 3-stage centrifugal, positioned as an energy-saving alternative to rotary screw compressors |
| 2014 | T3 series launched — high-efficiency oil-free 3-stage centrifugal; cumulative turbocompressor deliveries pass 7,000 units |
| 2016 | IHI DALGAKIRAN JV established in Kocaeli, Turkey (Middle East & Turkiye market); Hitachi acquires Sullair (does not affect IHI-Sullair Suzhou JV) |
| 2016 | 1,000th TRE series centrifugal compressor shipped from Tatsuno Plant |
| 2017 | IHI Rotating Machinery Engineering Co., Ltd. founded (1 Oct) — IHI Group spins off compressor, turbocharger and turbine businesses into one independent engineering subsidiary |
| 2020s | Cumulative turbocompressor deliveries pass 10,000 units; IHI-Sullair opens Chengdu office (2023) |
| 2024 | New IHI-Sullair factory in Suzhou Suxiang Cooperation Zone opens — produces the f-series large centrifugal compression systems; IHI-Sullair celebrates 6,000th compressor unit |
The model families — and what the letters actually mean
IHI's centrifugal compressor naming follows a pattern: a letter for the series plus sometimes a suffix for configuration. Here is how the model families map to real-world applications — these are exactly the machines we support with T2A, TXA, TRA, TRE and TRX parts lists:
| Series | Launched | Positioning & typical spec |
|---|---|---|
| Tx series | 1994 | World's smallest class geared centrifugal compressor — created a new market for compact oil-free air in manufacturing; ranges under 100 kW / ~15 m³/min |
| T2A series | 1970s | 2-stage integrally geared centrifugal; 125–230 kW; 1,394–2,648 m³/h; plant-air package |
| T3 series | 2014 | 3-stage high-efficiency oil-free centrifugal — the most recent member of the T-family, replacing some older platforms |
| TXA series | 1970s | 3-stage packaged oil-free centrifugal; ~200–500 kW; 50–120 m³/min; popular in petrochemicals and electronics |
| TRA / TRATM series | 2009 | Most compact 3-stage centrifugal from IHI; TRA launched 2004, TRATM (improved, energy-saving) 2009; positioned against rotary screw compressors for customers switching to oil-free air |
| TRE series | 1980s–1990s | 3- or 4-stage centrifugal; 375–950 kW; air, N₂, O₂ process-gas applications; 1,000th unit shipped from Tatsuno in 2016 |
| TRX series | 1980s–1990s | Top-of-the-line 4-stage centrifugal; high-pressure, high-flow plant-air and process-gas; the largest of the standard T-family models |
| f-series | 2024 | IHI-Sullair's new large industrial centrifugal compression system; produced exclusively at the new Suzhou Suxiang factory; targets refineries, air-separation and petrochemical plants |
The jet-engine connection that no one talks about
IHI is unusual among centrifugal compressor makers because it is also a leading global jet-engine component manufacturer. It makes fan blades and compressor disks for the GE90, GEnx and LEAP engines, takes a 35% workshare in the V2500 programme, and is the majority shareholder of Aero Engine Corporation of Japan (development of the next-generation YF9 turbofan). That aero expertise has flowed directly into its compressors:
- Impeller aerodynamics. IHI designs its centrifugal impellers using the same computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools developed for jet-fan blades, giving them class-leading efficiency and surge margin.
- Materials. Titanium impellers, Inconel shafts and high-temperature alloys — all standard jet-engine materials — are used across IHI's top-tier compressor platforms.
- Precision machining. 5-axis CNC milling centres originally commissioned for jet-engine blades produce IHI's integrally geared bull gears and impellers to μm-level tolerances.
- Vibration and rotor dynamics. IHI's jet-engine experience in flexible rotor design informs the tilting-pad bearing and thrust-bearing specifications in every T2A, TXA, TRA, TRE and TRX machine.
What this means for spare parts and overhauls
- IHI ≠ IHI-Sullair ≠ Sullair nameplates, but the parts are the same. Whether your machine was built in Tatsuno (Japan) or Suzhou (China), the impeller geometry, bull-gear tooth form and bearing specification are identical. Part numbers carry the IHI OEM prefix regardless of where the machine was assembled.
- These are long-life machines — most are well into the overhaul zone. With units shipped continuously since 1970, a large share of the running fleet is 15–50 years old. That makes alternative parts and in-house overhaul specialist like Turbomax a genuinely cost-saving choice vs. waiting for IHI's long lead times.
- The same bull-gear-and-pinion layout across the whole family. An IHI TRE-60 overhaul, a TX-A surge diagnosis and a TRA 350 kW rebuild all draw on the same overhaul toolkit — tilting-pad bearing replacement, impeller dynamic balancing, bull-gear tooth inspection, inlet scroll cavity repair.
- Jet-engine-grade parts available from independent specialists. IHI's aero-derived components are high-spec, but that does not mean only IHI can supply them. For most wearing parts — bearings, seals, intercooler bundles, inlet scrolls — independent specialists can match OEM specification at 30–60% of the factory price. See our why alternative parts page for the full comparison.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between IHI and IHI-Sullair?
IHI-Sullair Compression Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. is a 2004 joint venture — IHI holds 51%, Shenzhen Sullair Asia Industrial holds 49%. The JV manufactures and sells the same IHI-designed centrifugal compressors (T2A, T3A, TXA, TRA, TRE, TRX, TRATM series) under the IHI-Sullair brand for the Asian market. The technology, part numbers and service requirements are identical to IHI Japan's own machines.
Is the IHI-Sullair JV still alive after Hitachi bought Sullair in 2016?
Yes. Hitachi's acquisition of Sullair picked up Sullair's minority stake in the JV, but IHI remains the majority shareholder (51%) and the technology provider. The partnership has actually expanded: a second, larger factory broke ground in Suzhou Suxiang Cooperation Zone in 2022 and started production of the f-series large compressors in 2024.
My nameplate says "Sullair" but it is definitely a centrifugal compressor — can you help?
Almost certainly it is an IHI-designed machine. Sullair does not design its own centrifugal compressors; all Sullair-branded oil-free turbocompressors sold since 2004 are sourced from the IHI-Sullair JV or, before that, directly from IHI. Send us a photo of the nameplate and the part number you need — we will cross-reference it.
Where is the actual compressor designed and built?
Core R&D and high-volume production remain at IHI's Tatsuno Plant in Nagano, Japan. IHI-Sullair Suzhou assembly supplies the Asian market with the same componentry. A second Suzhou factory (Suxiang) opened in 2024 for the f-series large machines.
Where can I get an IHI parts list with OEM numbers?
Start with our T2A, TXA, TRA, TRE and TRX spare-parts pages, then send us your machine serial number and the part numbers you need for a quotation.
Need parts for an IHI, IHI-Sullair or Sullair centrifugal compressor?
Turbomax (Suzhou, China) has 10+ years of field experience on the full IHI centrifugal line — alternative impellers, bull gears, tilting-pad bearings, labyrinth seals, inlet scrolls, intercooler bundles and overhaul kits, quoted against OEM part numbers and shipped worldwide.