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A decade is a long time in the world of residential air conditioning, particularly when it comes to technology and energy efficiency improvements. The most efficient air conditioners sold in 2003 would no longer meet the minimum standards today. CCN talks to some of the biggest players about the biggest changes.

Since 2001, when the Australian government introduced the Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for three phase air conditioners, and later in 2004 for single phase units, air conditioners have become much more efficient in design and operation.

The national sales manager at Castel Electronics, Reff Liaw, said new technologies have allowed air conditioners sold today to achieve much higher operational energy efficiency in a range of different areas.

Liaw said one example is the widespread use of DC Inverter driven motors.

“Besides the compressor, many models have DC motors driving both the indoor and outdoor fan,” he said.

“There have been big improvements to compressor design which is important because the compressor is the heart of an air conditioner.

“By using advanced design and materials, such as a refined compression chamber and powerful magnet, today’s compressor has significantly improved its efficiency.”

Liaw said another example is high performance heat exchangers.

Heat exchange plays an important role in any system’s overall efficiency with Liaw listing improvements to materials such as inner-threaded pipes, high density fins, golden hydrophilic coating, new generation evaporators and condensers.

“Adopting refrigerant with a higher compression ratio such as R32, by its nature vastly improves system efficiency,” he said.

“Advanced microchips and control logic ensure systems consume energy smartly reducing energy cost without any compromise to comfort.”

When an air conditioner is not operating, it can still use energy in “stand by” mode, but Liaw said advances have been made to reduce the standby power requirements of modern systems down to less than one watt.

“This is something that was not such a concern in 2003 when electricity costs were much cheaper than today,” he said.

“Another area where there has been considerable convergence is between the Internet and air conditioning. Now we have the ability to control our air-conditioned spaces using Wi-Fi.

“A consumer today can easily control all aspects of their home air conditioner from anywhere in the world where they have Internet access and their mobile phone.

“This sort of modern convenience was not expected in 2003, but today’s generation expects such automation to exist in many home appliances, and today’s air conditioner is no different.

“Midea produces 30 per cent of the world’s air conditioners and leads the way in energy efficient and modern units with all of the features I have mentioned.

“Buy Midea in 2016 and you are investing in the best value air conditioner on the Australian market.”

High performance

Fujitsu General air conditioners have undergone significant improvements during the past decade, according to the company's national product manager, John Bourke.

He said the company is continually improving product performance which has led to large increases in energy efficiency over the years.

“This is especially true with the adoption of inverter technology and the use of features such as high efficiency DC componentry, power diffusers and high density multi-path heat exchangers,” Bourke explained.

“These improvements, accompanied by energy saving features such as human sensor technology and economy modes, means our air conditioners use less power than ever before.

“Comparing our current 2.5kW reverse cycle wall mount model which had an EER of 2.4 in 2003 (AST9RSJCW), now has an EER of 4.9 in 2016.”

Earlier this year, Fujitsu General's four reverse cycle air conditioning models were included in the latest air conditioning system round-up from consumer advocacy group, CHOICE.

The Fujitsu ASTG30KMTA, ASTG34KMTA, ASTG18KMCA and ASTG24KMCA split system models earned the CHOICE recommended stamp after testing in key categories from cooling efficiency to brand reliability.

Innovation

Today’s consumer is very concerned about energy consumption within the household. This means that for major home appliances such as air conditioners, manufacturers are challenged to provide an air conditioning system that is energy efficient and holds a small environmental footprint without comprising on the system's performance.

Daikin Australia's national marketing manager, Dan Tosh, said that in this changing environment, the company has progressively been part of major developments that have revolutionised the industry.

“We are proud to be able to look back on a history of innovation, from our first packaged air conditioners and heat pumps in the 1950s, to the first multi-split systems in the 1960s, to the introduction of VRV in 1982 and its continued development since,” he said.

“Daikin has continued its drive for innovation with the development of ultra efficient inverter technology as well as leading the industry in the adoption of next generation refrigerant, R32.

“Another notable advance was the release of Daikin's US7 split systems range, which was the first unit globally to use the new R32 refrigerant and is also the first and only split system in Australia to achieve a 7 star energy rating (FTXZ25).”

Energy efficiency

Panasonic’s senior product marketing manager for air conditioning, Joe De Bella, agrees products and technologies have evolved dramatically with smart advancements and efficiencies to meet the needs of today’s customer.

“There is a particular focus on energy efficiency, which continues to be one of the most important considerations for a customer when purchasing an air conditioner,” he said.

“At Panasonic, we’ve focused not only on improving energy efficiency at full load, but also at part loads, where the product spends most of its time being used by the consumer.”

Back in 2003, a Panasonic 14kw Fixed Speed unit used around 6kw of input power constantly when in use.

In comparison, De Bella said the equivalent Panasonic 14kw Ducted unit today uses just 1kw when operating at 25 per cent capacity to maintain the desired temperature inside the home.

“Panasonic’s energy efficiency improvements over the past 13 years can be attributed to multiple innovations, one of which is the company’s huge leap forward with our inverter technology which was actually launched in 2003,” he said.

“Today, 100 per cent of our air conditioning range uses inverter compressors, which consume less energy to maintain the set temperature.”

Another energy saving innovation that Panasonic has pioneered is ECONAVI sensors which monitor room conditions and adjust operations accordingly.

“This has been implemented by Panasonic across our wall splits, packaged systems and VRF products,” De Bella said.

“Other notable improvements include our indoor and outdoor coil designs, which have evolved considerably over the last decade, featuring more fins and surface area for efficient heat exchange, and a change in refrigerant gases from R22 through to R410a and most recently R32, which have all seen improvements in energy efficiency.”

As an industry pioneer, Seeley International founder and executive chairman, Frank Seeley, said he has encountered his fair share of sceptics – including those that originally scoffed at the notion of developing an all-plastic evaporative air-conditioner for the domestic market when he first started in the business.

“While the doubters were silenced by what proved to be an industry game-changer, it was important to look forward at what was next rather than sit back and celebrate,” Seeley said.

“We know that technology advances over time and that is why innovation must be seen as a journey rather than a destination.

“Seeley International has achieved a total of 11 world-first products by focusing on innovation, research and development.”

In addition to a team of engineers that provide technical advice and support to Seeley’s existing range of products, he said the company has an ‘Imagineering’ team that focuses solely on over-the-horizon innovation and product development.

“Our investment extends to being the only air conditioning and heating manufacturer in Australia to have a NATA-accredited product testing facility, which allows us to test our new and existing products, as well as competitor products, under varying real-life conditions,” Seeley said.

“One of our most recent innovative breakthroughs was the development and launch
of the Braemar SuperStealth series in late 2015.

“The high efficiency axial inverter technology offers the quietest cooling in the Braemar range. At a time when consumers are more energy-conscious than ever before, this latest leading-edge technology offers a patented super-quiet axial fan and a high efficiency inverter motor which is up to 50 per cent more efficient than the previous state-of-the-art Braemar evaporative cooler.”