Along with energy efficiency, the two aspects that consumers desire are sustainability and ease of operation. As a result, the market is currently moving toward smart controls, giving consumers the ability to manage their HVAC system remotely, says Abhishek Verma, Business Head, Air Conditioners Group, PMIN, Panasonic Life Solutions India.

Kindly brief us on products and solutions offered by your company in HVAC space (especially for industrial applications).

With an expertise of over 65+ years in developing air conditioners, Panasonic has a diversified range of air conditioners (ACs) that are tech-enabled and are designed to deliver cooling, quality (reliability) and a connected experience to redefine smart living.

Broadly, our products are divided into three categories:

a)   Residential Airconditioning (RAC) comprising of smart Inverter Split Hi-wall AC units, fixed speed and Window ACs. These come in the range of 1.0-2.2 tonnage capacity best suited for residential applications.

b)   Packaged Airconditioning (PAC) comprises of Smart Inverter Cassettes, Ductables and Tower ACs to offer ranging from 1.5 Tr to 11.0 Tr.

c)    VRF Airconditioning (VRF) have a capacity range of 4 HP to 80 HP. VRF has the flexibility to customise in terms of Indoor Type (Hiwall / Cassettes / Duct / Floor Mounted) to name and can cater to variety of applications ranging from small office to huge factories.

Why are HVAC systems important for improving efficiency and productivity in manufacturing facilities?
HVAC solutions are designed to enhance comfort, convenience and connectivity at workplace. Panasonic HVAC solutions uses advanced technology such as Miraie – Panasonic’s connected living platform and True AI (Artificial Intelligence to automatically adjusts the AC settings/parameters for comfort cooling). It can help:

·         Regulate humidity and temperature

·         Ensure IAQ (Inside Air Quality)

·         Energy Efficiency

·         Environment Control (Cleanroom and Pharma applications)

·         Equipment Cooling (Server Rooms / Printing Press applications require machines to be kept in certain temperature range)

·         Is Safe to use (can be placed at basements / Stairwells / closed workspaces have HVAC norms)

What is the market size and scope for industrial applications of HVAC in India? What are the key factors (and/or end-user industries) driving this market?

Indian HVAC market is approximately $5.8 billion, which includes residential, commercial air-conditioning, ventilation and other ancillary products. This is projected to grow by another 16% - 17%. Out of which industrial application would be roughly 20%, i.e., $1.2 billion.

There are several factors that contribute to the rise in demand for HVAC industry such as urbanisation, technological advancements, government initiatives and growing awareness to name a few. They are helping catapult the growth for HVAC industry.

For instance,  

·         Growing awareness and demand for indoor air quality and comfort across residential and commercial spaces is driving demand for HVAC.

·         Increased industrialisation: Rise in Indian economy and the parallel exponential industrial growth is creating a demand for commercial ACs across office/institutions /manufacturing plants.

·         Demand for Japanese-trusted, sustainable technology which meets the new-age demand i.e., AI/IoT enabled solutions are increasingly being favoured.

·         Local manufacturing boost – GOI’s schemes such as PLI have been a game-changer for the AC industry increasing domestic value addition from 25% to 45% within a year and a half of its launch. The objective is to reach to 75% value addition by FY28 and this will help further boost the demand for AC industry at large.

How can industries balance upfront costs with long-term energy savings when upgrading to eco-friendly HVAC systems?
Inverter air conditioners are generally more energy-efficient than conventional air conditioners, which can justify the higher upfront cost in many cases. Inverter ACs use variable-speed compressors that adjust their output to match the cooling demand, rather than running at a fixed, maximum capacity like standard units.

This allows inverter ACs to consume less electricity when the heating load is lower, resulting in significant energy savings, especially during milder weather conditions. Studies have shown that inverter ACs can be 30-50% more energy-efficient than traditional air conditioners.

What are the emerging trends in HVAC technologies (for industrial applications)?

Some of the trends seen across the HVAC industry are with respect to energy efficiency, sustainability, and improved indoor air quality. In the case of-

Energy efficiency:

• Variable speed inverter technology: They help reduce operational costs
• Heat recovery systems: These systems capture waste heat from industrial processes and use it to heat or cool other areas of the facility.
• Smart controls: Uses new-age technology to optimise HVAC system performance, reducing energy consumption and improving efficiency.

2. Sustainability:

• Green refrigerants: such as R410a and R32 (low O-depletion tech) are being used in our HVAC to lower environmental impact

3. Indoor air quality:

• Advanced filtration systems: Panasonic’s nanoe™X and nanoeTMG technologies, helps ensure a healthy indoor AQI by eliminating PM 2.5 particulate matter, dust particles, bacteria, and viruses.

4. IoT and smart HVAC - Digital Convergence today has led to a faster adoption of new-age technologies in AC industry. Thus, creating a demand for IoT/AI enabled HVAC solutions. Panasonic uses Miraie enabled technology across its AC range to regulate temperature, schedule maintenance humidity, and CO2 levels, to optimize HVAC system performance.

Additionally, HVAC industry has seen an increase in demand of modular chiller applications. Modular Chillers are customisable HVAC solutions that can be used as multiple modules to deliver the required capacity for any requirement. Nonetheless, they have the inherent drawbacks of a chiller system, such as high initial costs, large space requirements, and water consumption during operation.

How is the HVAC market expected to evolve in the next five years?

Today an HVAC customer seeks smart and new-age sustainable tech-enabled cooling solution for his day-to-day needs. Along with energy efficiency, the two aspects that consumers desire are sustainability and ease of operation. As a result, the market is currently moving toward smart controls, giving consumers the ability to manage their HVAC system remotely. The market will soon see feature-rich, IoT/AI-enabled machines that may be remotely or online over internet, through smart devices.

What are your plans to further tap the HVAC market? (in terms of developing new technologies, expanding production capacity, tapping new end-user industries, exports, etc.)

At Panasonic, air conditioners are an important growth engine for our consumer durables division and in this competitive market, we consistently innovate in line with changing consumer preferences. From indoor air quality, energy conservation, connectivity to further building on the convenience aspect, we have now integrated matter (in RACs) with our Miraie platform to redefine the smart home experience. Matter provides inter-operability and is simple to use, reliable and secure. Similarly, any room air conditioner that is compatible with matter is easily controlled through the Miraie platform. We will continue to stay committed to our enterprise customers through our HVAC range and continue to explore newer markets through our diversified range of commercial ACs.

We have recently introduced our Tower ACs range of 2-4 tonnage capacity. It helps ensure.

·         Cooling performance through higher airflow. This coupled with Panasonic’s nanoe™X and nanoe^TMG technologies, helps ensure a healthy indoor AQI by eliminating PM 2.5 particulate matter, dust particles, bacteria, and viruses.

·         Quality and Reliability are guaranteed through technologies such as inverter, ECOTOUGH, ShieldBlu+, PiR sensors (for energy optimisation).

·         Connectivity for smart living is powered by Miraie – Panasonic’s connected living platform and True AI (Artificial Intelligence - automatically adjusts the AC settings/parameters for comfort cooling). Delivering on our ‘Make in India’ commitment, all Panasonic ACs are manufactured at our Technopark plant in Haryana.