Daikin Touts Air Intelligence with the Introduction of New Products

New VRV units, Intelligent Equipment, and more highlight Daikin’s latest offerings

**LIVE DEMONSTRATION:** Chris Bellshaw, director, VRV product marketing, Daikin North America LLC, gives a live demonstration on how Daikin’s new variable refrigerant volume (VRV) units overcome defrost challenges.

**VRV AURORA:** Daikin’s VRV AURORA Series offers 100 percent nominal heating capacity at 0°F (minus 18°C), up to 85 percent nominal capacity at minus 13°F (minus 25°C), and up to 60 percent capacity at minus 22°F (minus 30°C).

CHICAGO — Daikin demonstrated its expertise in “Air Intelligence” through several new technologies at the 2018 AHR Expo, including its VRV T-Series Water Cooled Condensing Unit, Daikin VRV AURORA™ Series, PreciseLine™ Large Capacity Blower Coil, and more.

“Daikin engineers and marketers have had tremendous success this past year as the Daikin team continues to adapt the high technologies that Daikin is recognized for into the growing North American market,” said Takayuki (Taka) Inoue, executive vice president and president, Daikin North America LLC.

VRV T-SERIES

The VRV T-Series Water Cooled condensing unit was one of many new Daikin units raising eyebrows at the show. The VRV T provides added flexibility for applications in colder climates at buildings with existing water loops and in geothermal applications. The VRV T-Series system also offers many of the same benefits of an air-cooled variable refrigerant volume (VRV) system, such as quiet operation and advanced controls for comfort and system zoning. The system design is based on a modular design concept. It is composed of unified condensing units that require connecting a two-pipe refrigerant network for heat pump applications or a three-pipe refrigerant network for heat recovery applications.

The condensing units are compact, which makes transport by elevator possible, and it also effectively simplifies installation in mechanical rooms, saving a great deal of time and labor.

“This unit gives you a water-cooled condenser and allows you to move water through a heat exchanger to a cooling tower, boiler, geothermal unit, etc.,” said Caglar Oburoglu, product marketing engineer, Daikin North America. “Several improvements were made on this unit. We used to be limited to a 7-ton size on one module.

“Now, using the same size, we offer up to 12 ton,” he added. “Mechanical rooms often have a limited amount of space, and now you can expect more capacity in a smaller size.”

VRV AURORA

Daikin North America has expanded its existing VRV AURORA air-cooled system to include a 230/460V model for the U.S. market. The enhanced series delivers heat efficiently in temperatures as low as minus 22°F. Daikin’s vapor-injection compressor technology enables the system to reach 100 percent of its usual heating capacity at 0°, up to 85 percent at minus 13°, and up to 60 percent capacity at minus 22°.

“While not everyone gets down to minus 22°, this level of performance can be used as a tool for us when it comes to added efficiency at those temperatures,” said David Palazzolo, senior product manager, unitary systems, Daikin North America LLC. “This is the first time we’ve utilized vapor-injected technology in our VRV platform. It’s served its purpose due to its extreme compressor ambient capabilities. Temperature is a hurdle to the acceptance in the U.S. north of St. Louis as customers are concerned regarding how much heat they’re going to get in the winter. We’re excited to introduce them to this unit’s capabilities.”

VRV LIFE

Daikin also introduced its VRV LIFE™ System, a versatile VRV residential system optimized to efficiently heat and cool homes.

The slim, quiet, inverter-driven VRV LIFE outdoor unit can accommodate up to nine indoor units with multiple ducted and ductless styles for design and application flexibility. With the option of integrating a gas furnace via a separate evaporator coil, the VRV LIFE System is designed to provide a seamless user experience.

“This is the first residential VRV system, and it’s really a game changer,” said Marc Bellanger, director of marketing and communications at Daikin North America. “For the premium market, we wanted to differentiate and add value to our customers — we’re doing that through our VRV LIFE offering. Now, you can mix and match residential systems in up to nine zones, and it’s easy to do now when you have the control logic behind it. With VRV LIFE, you can connect two furnaces or one furnace and multiple fan coil units. This system offers a number of configurations.”

DAIKIN LIVE

In addition to showcasing its new equipment and technologies on the show floor in Chicago, Daikin leaders discussed the trends shaping the future of HVAC technology and its focus in driving innovation to create better outcomes for organizations through a Daikin LIVE: On the Air from AHR teleconference.

“Chicago is always themed to be the international show, and we’ve seen record attendance,” said Mike Schwartz, CEO, Daikin Applied, during the live broadcast. “Regarding trends, I’m hearing a lot about wireless control technology that enables smart equipment and increases energy efficiency.

“A lot of companies can provide comfort to a space, but we’re trying to provide a better outcome in buildings,” Schwartz continued. “That has to do with IAQ and the turnover of air, and we’ve combined sensor technology with analytics and our Intelligent Equipment control technologies to provide a better outcome, which we’ve termed ‘Air Intelligence.’”

Kirk Thorne, executive vice president of sales and marketing, Daikin Applied, said the mood in and around the HVAC industry is very positive.

“The residential market is up significantly, and light commercial and applied — on a blended basis — is up nearly 6 percent,” he said. “Building operators and owners are feeling good because they have capital to spend. Everyone is very upbeat and positive right now.”

Thorne said Daikin intends to increase its industry training offerings and advance its work on vapor compression in the near future.

“Forty percent of techs are going to retire in the next five years,” he said. “There are a lot of baby boomers out there, and we’ve got to bring new people into the industry and provide them top-notch training to keep pace with the innovative technologies. Additionally, we have a new magnetic-bearing compressor that will function with HFO [hydrofluoroolefin] refrigerants. We have to train an entire industry on that, which will take some time and investment. But, to get to zero ODP [ozone-depletion potential] and GWP [global warming potential], that’s the direction we need to go, and that’s supported by increased efficiencies in the market as well.”

ADDITIONAL PRODUCT OFFERINGS

In addition to the aforementioned products, the Daikin booth also showcased the PreciseLine™ Large Capacity Blower Coil — a large capacity horizontal blower coil that conditions air to precise levels
up to 5,000 cfm and is designed to match a building’s air handling demand at a blower coil price point; Intelligent Equipment — Daikin’s control solution that connects directly to 150 data points on rooftop units and 350 data points on air-cooled chillers to monitor energy consumption for deeper, more accurate performance measurements; the new Pathfinder® (screw) and Trailblazer® (scroll) chiller
units; a line of remotely connected rooftop units, which includes the enhancement of the Rebel — a commercial packaged 20-ton heat pump with inverter scroll compression; the SmartSource® compact vertical water-source heat pumps built to pack high-performance features into a small footprint; flexible, electronically commutated motor (ECM) fan arrays for both the Vision® and Skyline® semi-custom air handlers; and more.

Publication date: 2/26/2018

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Herb Woerpel was a senior editor with The ACHR NEWS. He is committed to delivering practical, insightful information in an accessible, engaging way. Herb joined BNP Media in 2011. He most recently served as editor-in-chief of Engineered Systems and was previously employed as managing editor of The ACHR NEWS. Before joining BNP Media, he worked as a reporter with the Advance Newspapers, a subsidiary of MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. He holds a bachelor’s degree in news editorial journalism from Central Michigan University and boasts 16-plus years of professional journalism experience.