New Daikin Sky Air® Air Conditioners Are Optimised For All seasons

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Daikin Europe has launched a new Sky Air® RZQG-L series of air conditioning units that pre-dates strict European Union imposed energy performance requirements and leads the way in seasonal efficiency.

The European Union’s 20/20/20 policy has set the energy performance bar high at 20% less CO2 emissions, 20% renewable energy and 20% reduction in primary energy use by 2020. Within this framework the EU Energy related Products Directive (Eco-design Directive) specifies minimum Eco-design requirements, such as improved energy efficiency, in energy using products. For air conditioning units below 12kW output, these requirements will be based on product seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER): a more realistic representation of performance than the current nominal energy efficiency (EER) rating method (**).

The Daikin name is synonymous with the introduction of high environmentally efficient equipment that pre-dates EU directives, bringing its Sky Air® Seasonal Inverter to the market in Spring of 2010. Daikin has now extended its market leading role in this respect by incorporating seasonal efficiency requirements into its new Sky Air® RZQG-L light commercial range. Sky Air® was chosen for this pioneering development because of its high potential environmental impact, since light commercial applications represent the greatest annual energy use due to their high sales volumes and high annual operating hours.

The new system delivers considerable improvements in terms of seasonal efficiency, optimised inverter control over the full temperature distribution curve providing optimum partial load performance, resulting in high ratings in ‘real-life’ operating conditions. Also, newly designed compressor, heat exchanger and improved auxiliary modes enhance its performance still further. As a result, optimised Sky Air® RZQG-L outdoor units deliver average seasonal efficiency improvements more than 20% greater than the current Sky Air® Seasonal Inverter in real life conditions and 50% greater than non-inverter systems.

Over and above its excellent seasonal performance the new Sky Air® series offers a wide operating range, the ability to re-use existing refrigerant piping, a ‘quiet night’ mode and is compatible with the newly designed seasonal Sky Air® indoor units, including the new FCQG round flow cassette and new FHQG ceiling suspended cassette.

Europe has for some time required objective measurements of equipment performance, which determine the minimum requirements that must be met by manufacturers and provide consumers with better information on air conditioner performance. The current measurement method – nominal efficiency – has limitations, resulting in a significant gap between announced performance and actual performance.

The more accurate measurement – seasonal efficiency – is determined by considering several rating temperatures for cooling and heating instead of just one and the integration into the calculation of operation at partial capacity instead of full capacity. Since most systems operate most of the time under a partial load, the new methodology gives a better indication of expected real-life performance. The new seasonal efficiency calculation will also take account of the power consumed by devices in auxiliary modes such as standby mode.

Daikin Europe products are distributed in the UK by Daikin Airconditioning UK Ltd and Space Airconditioning plc.

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