DAIKIN VRV IV Heat Pump Wins Plus X Award 2013 for Innovation, High Quality, Functionality and Ecology
DAIKIN‘s VRV IV Air-to-Air Heat Pump won the 2013 Plus X Award, convincing the jury in as many as four categories: Innovation, High Quality, Functionality and Ecology. For 10 years the Plus X Award, the world’s leading prize for innovations in the fields of technology, sports and lifestyle, has honoured products that are viable for the future and possess a quality factor that distinguishes the product from competitive ones. Each product nominated is examined and discussed in detail in a judging process that lasts several weeks. Experts, independent trade journalists and personalities from 25 industry branches then select the most innovative products with the best performance. By awarding the quality seal to DAIKIN’s VRV IV the Plus X Award’s expert jury has appreciated its unrivalled features, which comprise, amongst others, a variable refrigerant temperature that optimizes seasonal efficiency and a continous heating mode during defrost operation for increased room comfort.
Gaining the thermal energy needed from ambient air, a renewable energy source, makes the VRV IV all the more sustainable and ecologically compatible. Moreover, room heating and cooling, ventilation and hot water production is integrated in one technical unit. Thus the VRV IV is an all-in-all solution for the thermal energy management of commercial buildings. The fourth generation of DAIKIN’s VRV has been available on the European market since fall 2012.
The variable refrigerant temperature technology is one of the VRV’s outstanding technical features. During operating modethe system will automatically adjust condensation and evaporation temperatures to the actual power requirements, thus increasing the system’s seasonal efficiency by up to 28%. During the course of the year the system mainly operates at partial load, as peak cooling and/or heating performance is rarely needed. When cooling demands are low, for example during the transitional season from summer to fall, and room temperatures are near set point the VRV IV will automatically adjust to a higher evaporation temperature and will thus need less energy. Compared to the preceding model the VRV IV needs up to 28% less primary energy and therefore has a 28% lower CO2 output at the same time. These technical values not only meet but even surpass the EU’s overall 20/20/20 climate targets that demand 20% less CO2-emissions, 20% more renewable energy use and 20% less primary energy use by the year 2020.
A further technical innovation of the VRV IV is its continuous heating mode during defrosting of the outdoor units, which considerably increases room comfort. Defrosting is needed most frequently at outdoor temperatures between -7 °C und 0 °C and lasts up to 10 minutes, depending on the system’s size. So far, the refrigeration cycle had to be reversed during defrosting which lead to a temporary temperature drop in the buildings. The VRV IV now features a defrost heat storage vessel that is charged during normal operating mode. During defrosting the indoor units continue to heat as the thermal energy needed for defrosting no longer needs to be absorbed from them, but will be provided by the defrost storage vessel.
The VRV configurator completes the trio of innovations and offers an advanced software solution which simplifies commissioning and customisation. This means less time is required on the roof configuring the outdoor unit. Ongoing maintenance is easier too, thanks to a graphical interface that allows engineers to evaluate operational data and errors. The VRV configurator also allows multiple systems within multiple sites to be managed all in exactly the same way, thus offering simplified commissioning for key accounts.
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