The longer any machine runs continuously without breakdown, the more cost-effective it is. Of course, there are some other factors like its energy consumption, impact on the environment, which also need to be considered – as those factors too indirectly adds to its O&M cost. Although, this is equally true for the machinery used in HVAC-R industry, even two decades back, plant managers often had to literally sweat to restart the tripped systems. As there were no ways to forecast the possible failures of the components of a heating / cooling plant.
Owing to this condition, fault tracing was not only cumbersome but also it was a time-consuming job. However, the scenario has drastically changed today, and day by day the job of flaw detection is becoming easier.
Digitalization is completely transforming the traditional landscape of repair and maintenance in the HVAC-R industry. The costly, time-consuming, and guesswork-reliant ‘jugaad’ approach is giving way to an era of well-planned, pre-determined, and proactive practices – transforming the HVAC-R industry’s maintenance and repair into processes that are far simpler, as well as less time-consuming and less expensive.
Given the increasing reliance on the HVAC-R industry in this era of global warming, we must find ways to enhance reliability, environment-friendliness, and enhance energy efficiency; thus, accepting the adoption of new technologies is very essential at this juncture.
Some of the latest technologies, like Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Analytics, are helping our industry in an unprecedented way to offer seamless service following the rules of compliance.
The major advantage of adopting the latest technologies is creating a real-time visibility of the entire process; whenceforth by analysing the data that are collected through sensors placed at different locations of the heating / cooling circuit, a prudent decision can be made well in advance before any untoward incident occurs and compels untimely / unplanned plant shutdown. Thanks to the emerging technology tools that are helping the HVAC-R systems to be more connected, efficient, reliable and resilient.
