In twenty first century, the entire HVAC&R industry has been witnessing radical changes in almost all of its segments. Although the main focus is on finding out the best, safest and most economic refrigerant to save further deterioration of the global climate, parallelly there are improvements in the fields of energy management, control mechanism and of course in reduction of form factor, weight of the setup and so on…
The world is entering the Smart City era, where gradually all the dwelling places will turn into Net-Zero-Energy Buildings (NZEBs). Those buildings will be constructed using the latest materials, technologies, techniques and controls. The NZEB concept does not stop consuming only as much energy as an entity produces – rather in future premises will be planned to harness surplus amount of energy to support the activities around.
Keeping that in view, manufacturers in the HVAC&R industry are now in race to improve their products. And of course the changes are not only coming in the products – but their manufacturing processes are also improving alongside. The HVAC&R industry has a lot to do at this juncture of transformation. Good thing is that the work has already started.
For example: a few months back Infineon Technologies AG supplied Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. with power devices to couple the highest energy efficiency with lowest audible noise. They have been integrated in Samsung’s brand new one-door fridge and French Door Fridge inverterized refrigerators. Inverterization is an emerging DC to AC conversion trend in contemporary inverter designs. It helps the application run more quietly and smoothly while the average power consumption is reduced compared to a traditional on/off control.
Studies show the HVAC system may account for up to 48% of a building’s water consumption, whereas restrooms and kitchens are using 31 to 37%, and landscaping accounts for only 18 to 22%. Cooling towers in power plants use evaporative cooling, which means loss of tons of water. Recently, a company called Infinite Cooling has developed a technology to arrest most of that water based on technology developed at MIT.
Thus, HVAV&R industry still has a lot to contribute to make the human civilisation sustainable. The process of innovation needs to continue at a much higher pace.
Pravita Iyer
Publisher & Director
