Nanova Care Coat is a technology-driven company and manufacturer of functional smart coatings. How significant is your cooling business?
Anti-corrosive coating for the HVAC segment forms a significant plan of our business. We have assessed the potential which can be created and converted and more than one-third of our revenue plan is from the HVAC segment. Today, our product has been approved and used by most of the large brands. We have developed products not only for factory application, but also for on site installed machines and have developed a separate application team to offer a complete solution to our customers. Even for sales, we have a separate and dedicated team focusing on the HVAC segment.
What gives you an upper edge over other competitors?
We are a technologically driven company with strong research team, our scientists are continuously working on new innovations in nano-technology coatings. Further, we have state-of-the-art R&D center at Mumbai with all testing facilities and have manufacturing plant at Khopoli, Mumbai. Our products are developed indigenously with backward integration of raw materials. We synthesise our own polymers and nano materials to design the coating. All our products are patent protected Most of available nano-coatings today in India are imported; hence we can offer better cost and logistic support with on time service to customers. We offer customise solutions and have a strong technical service team for after sales support.
What is your take on the recent status of cooling industry in India?
India has a huge untapped market. It is a sub-tropical country with scorching heat in summers and penetration of ACs is only four per cent. India today has one of the lowest access to cooling across the world but is poised for rapid and significant growth in cooling demand. India’s cooling energy consumption is top in the list and expected to grow around 2.2 times in 2027 over the current baseline. Hence, energy efficient cooling system would be the deciding factor
Rising disposable income of emerging middle class is expected to propel the AC growth. As per data, today only 52 per cent of middle-class families on an average own one AC per house. Usage of AC is expected to be doubled by next five years.
India is proactively working on reducing the energy consumption due to which regulations have been defined to reduce energy load of building including HVAC services, hence, demand for inverter AC will rapidly grow. Space cooling in buildings will continue to dominate India’s cooling energy demand at around 60 per cent share and room AC stock-in-use will reach 170 million units in 2027. Fans and air coolers will consume more electricity than all large AC systems combined in the next decade.
Recent increase in import duty will force all manufacturing companies to set up in-house manufacturing facilities which certainly opens up the opportunity for these anti-corrosion coatings at factory level. Further due to initiatives from the government to increase the energy ratings, manufactures have to find the other alternative in alloys for better performance and energy efficient product in such case aluminum micro channel coils will be ideal choice. However, aluminum coils are more prone to corrosion and non-repairable. So, this will generate huge demand for coating to address these concerns.
What are the products offered by the company catering to HVACR sector?
Nanova has developed pioneering new nano-coating; Ultracorr ACX series specifically for HVAC corrosion protection. These anti-corrosion products are offered in both water and solvent based technology.
The coatings offered are thin nano coating which provides a long-lasting corrosion protection of copper and aluminum condenser coils at lower thickness (10-15 microns), thereby, preventing leakage of gas due to atmospheric and chemical corrosion, saving huge energy cost and additional expense of coil maintenance and replacement. We also offer anti-microbial coating under the Microb 150 for the AC filters and panels.
Nanova has pioneered in development and sale of nanotechnology-based coating products designed and manufactured totally indigenously. What are its unique advantages?
The coatings meet international standards and being based on the nano technology, which offers protection at a very low film thickness without affecting heat transfer and pressure drop. Products meets RoHS compliance guidelines. We can offer products that offers salt spray resistance having more than 3000 hours as per ASTM B 117 standards at 15 microns DFT with excellent flexibility and weather resistance.
The system can efficiently be applied in the factory as well as on-site and for both new and old coils or machines. We are a one stop solution for protection of coils against corrosion. We not only manufacture and supply the coatings but also offer complete coating solution to the customers by taking up supply apply jobs at factory or installed machines at sites. We have in-house application specialist for coating application and onsite technical support.
The specialised product with simple application procedure makes Ultracorr ACX series the best choice to prevent air conditioning failure and unnecessary energy consumption due to corrosion.
How does thin-film nano-coating for HVAC&R coils & condensers work?
Conventional anti-corrosion coatings are generally applied at higher thickness (50-300 microns) to give the desired corrosion resistance, which blocks the fins of the AC coils and do not allow the heat to dissipate properly, leading to drop in cooling performance of AC system. The energy cost rises along with the risk of fire due to extra heat accumulation. To address these issues, you need to have a thin film coating (8-15 microns) offering high corrosion resistance along with heat dissipation properties.
Are you looking to expand your overseas footprint as far as cooling business is concerned?
Our products are approved with all the major players in the HVAC segment. We have already started supplies and execution of jobs with some of the major brands in Bangladesh, Middle East, etc. We are also in discussion with one of the large players for supply of our coatings for all plants across South East Asia. Currently, our focus is to capitalise on the conversion of the potential in domestic market, which we believe is huge by itself. Strategically we may look seriously at the overseas opportunities from 2020-21 onwards.
