ºÚ¶´ÉçÇø

LG

Air-conditioning in hotel bedrooms and upmarket locations can be disguised as paintings with the LG Artcool range. All pipework and cables are concealed, and it is easy to unclip the picture on the front to replace it with another.

The unit has a three-way blow configuration and it is possible to block the bottom louvre to prevent draughts if it is placed over a bed or a desk.

The units have a Neo Plasma air purifying system, auto cleaning, auto changeover, dehumidification, wireless remote controller and auto restart.

Another option from the Artcool range for wall-mounted units is a mirror front.

Samsung

The DVM Plus III VRF system has the world's largest system capacity, according to Samsung, as well as the greatest piping lengths and the smallest footprint for a 16hp unit at just 0.92m2.

It uses a new digital hybrid system — a digital vapour injection scroll compressor and a turbo intercooler — which improves cooling and heating performance and energy efficiency through two- stage compression, improved refrigerant flow rates and enhanced sub-cooling. As a result, it has a CoP of up to 4.23, which is as much as 11% better than for earlier models, and is claimed to exceed the industry next-best rating of 4.15.

The units are available in 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16hp modules and can be combined to provide up to 64hp (180kW) to support up to 64 indoor units.

The system allows a maximum pipe length of 200m between outdoor unit and furthest indoor unit, with up to 50m height difference. There can be up to 45m between the first branch joint and the furthest unit (90m if the next size of pipe is installed).

Honeywell

The CentraLine range from Honeywell has been extended with the Zio programmable wall units and Spyder terminal unit controller.

The Zio wall units have a large backlit LCD display to make it easy for building users to adjust room conditions. There are two versions: one with a built-in temperature sensor, the other with both temperature and humidity sensors.

Spyder controllers incorporate Honeywell's Adaptive Integral Algorithm (AIA) control. This reduces overshoot to reach the required temperature more quickly. It also helps to prevent actuator wear by reducing the number of times it repositions.

Zio and Spyder link using Sylk bus communications.

Mitsubishi Electric

A new range of Mr Slim models incorporating power inverter technology has been made available by Mitsubishi Electric. The 2009 Power Inverter Series has brought increased energy efficiency across the range, with most systems now achieving an A rating.

The 12 power inverter outdoor units have cooling capacities from 3.6kW to 22.0kW and heating capacities from 4.1 to 27.0kW. They have a CoP of up to 4.61.

All the units have a unified side-flow configuration and a small footprint. They can link to 34 different indoor units to offer single, twin, triple or quadruple configurations.

The shapes of the fan and grille of the outdoor unit have been redesigned, increasing the blowing capacity and improving the efficiency of heat.

The fan has a new rear edge design which suppresses wind turbulence and improves operational efficiency. The opening for the fan has been increased from 490mm to 550mm and the grille shape has been redesigned to reduce pressure loss and improve heat exchange performance.

Hitachi

Hitachi Europe has launched FSN2, an addition to its Set Free range of VRF air-conditioning systems. FSN2 uses H-Link II, Hitachi’s proprietary high-performance transmission system, and CS-NET Web, the company’s computer control network system, to increase the number of connectable indoor units.

The off-coil temperature can be controlled to within 1C, and noise levels are low, meaning there is no need for attenuation.

The company says the high-efficiency DC inverter compressor with release valve, heat exchanger with newly developed high-efficiency heat transfer fins and DC fan motors result in an excellent CoP.

The Set Free FSN2 is compatible with all existing Hitachi System Free indoor units. Its maximum piping length has been extended to 1000m.