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July 31 - The 2nd China Ozone Layer Protection Award Kicks Off

The State Environmental Protection Administration of China (SEPA) and Carrier Corporation announced at a joint press conference in Beijing that consideration for The Second China Ozone Layer Protection Award has officially started.
The annual award was established last year by SEPA to promote the protection of the ozone layer, and to reduce and eventually phase out the ozone-depleting substances that are contributing to the destruction of the Earth's protective stratospheric ozone shield, which protects life and eco-systems from harmful UV sunlight.
As a global corporate citizen with a strong commitment to protecting the environment, Carrier has made a long-term commitment in support of the awards. Carrier's sponsorship of the SEPA awards further articulates its leading position and commitment to China's ozone layer and environment protection drive.
Five gold awards and one special gold award will be presented in Xi'an on September 16 this year, coinciding with World Ozone Protection Day. The awards will be granted to organizations and individuals that have made significant contributions to China's environmental protection.
Organizations and individuals are invited to participate. They should show how their efforts or projects have or will further enhance the ozone layer protection in various industries in China and increase the public awareness of environment protection.

July 30 - ASHRAE Recognized As "Audited Designator" by ANSI

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has been deemed an "audited designator" by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), one of only five organizations to earn the designation.
Audited designators are those who have demonstrated a "consistent record of successful voluntary standards development," according to ANSI. The designation means that ASHRAE now has the authority to designate its standards as ANSI standards without approval by ANSI's Board of Standards Review.
ASHRAE should now be able to get standards published in less time, perhaps four to six weeks since the Society will not have to wait for the letter ballot process at ANSI. ASHRAE currently has 114 standards in various stages of development.

July 29 - Full-Scale Compressor Production -Still Serious Shortage

Serious shortages of compressor supply have become the biggest obstacle to AC production and sales this year. JARN has interviewed some major Chinese AC manufacturers by phone and found that all manufacturers, including the top 3 (Gree, Midea and Haier) have suffered the serious impact of short compressor supply.
Some of them have been in such a situation that they dared not to receive orders and some have been driven into an even more serious situation where they had to merely wait for a supply of compressors.
According to the statistics compiled by a relevant department, the sales of compressors numbered 4,590,000 units in April 2004.
Production and sales performance in the first eight months of refrigeration year 2004 increased by 55% over the same period last year. This sizable increase margin shows that the production scale of compressors for household ACs is expanding in China, while meeting the demand of domestic AC system makers, the export of compressors is also increasing rapidly. Production and sales by Alite, LGE and Panasonic have reached a high of 5 million units, ranking among the top 3 in the domestic AC sector.
SHEC
The general manager Shen Jianfang said that this year SHEC's annual production and sales of compressors are expected to exceed 8 million units, with cumulative total exceeding 30 million units. SHEC has become the leader in the domestic AC compressor sector. Last year its production and sales reached 7.5 million units, holding a 22% share of domestic market and ranking No. 1 in China.
GMCC
On April 8, Midea and Toshiba Carrier jointly deployed 300 million RMB to set up a joint venture in Shunde. Among the joint venture's products, environment-friendly energysaving type compressors using new refrigerant with a high energy efficiency ratio will be their major products, and the annual production capacity of both parties in Shunde is expected to reach 8 million units in 2008.
LGE
One of the brands attaining the biggest growth in compressor sales in China. In recent months, its monthly production has already approached 0.8 million units.
Rechi
This company plans to increase its global total sales volume from 4 million units in fiscal 2003 to over 5 million units in 2004. Its long-term goal is to increase its share in the China mainland market to over 20%.

July 27 - Daewoo Electronics Releases Vitamin Supplying AC

Daewoo Electronics has released the DP-159SA, an air conditioner capable of supplying vitamin into the room air by means of a vitamin generating filter made by an advanced ceramic processing technology.
Unlike conventional ACs, the new model adopts a filter containing condensed vitamin so that, by supplying vitamin C into the room air, it can contribute to the skin health and exhibit an air purifying effect.
Different from the conventional ACs which purify air by removing airborne pollutants such as dust and bacteria, the new product purifies air through the 7- stage purifying system and also eliminates bacteria in the outside air when it enters the room by discharging the antibiotic air containing vitamin.
By controlling the room environment by means of an artificial intelligence, the DP-159SA can also realize more than a 40% cutdown on electric power consumption compared to the predecessor model. It can also cut the standby power and minimize the noise level. It also gives a clean and deluxe image by adopting Venetian wood color.

July 25 - Danfoss and Turbocor Form Compressor Joint Venture

New company combines world-wide resources with quantum-leap oil-free technology Denmark-based Danfoss A/S and Montreal-based Turbocor Inc. recently announced the formation of a 50/50 joint venture to be named Danfoss Turbocor Compressors Inc. The new company is formed with Turbocor's existing product line of oil-free centrifugal refrigerant compressors, its growing worldwide customer base and its manufacturing facility in Montreal, initially employing 77 people. HVAC industry veteran Mr. Joe Orosz, President of Danfoss Commercial Compressors Ltd., Lawrenceville, Georgia, has been appointed President of the new company.
Deal adds big-company momentum to award-winning oil-free compressor line The Joint Venture company will provide the HVAC market with energy efficient compressors that optimize operating costs, focusing on the heavy commercial and light industrial chiller markets for commercial air conditioning in the range of 60-90 tons (R134a). With the transaction, Danfoss will expand its commercial compressor product line to include high-efficiency oil-free centrifugals, and Turbocor will tap into the strong sales and service organizations of Danfoss to enable further expansion in field installations.
The key to this transaction is the growing international support for Turbocor's new oil-free commercial compressor range, which uniquely combines magnetic bearings, direct-drive permanent-magnet motor, variable-speed drive, 2-stage centrifugal compression and fully-digital integrated electronics. Turbocor's oil-free centrifugal compressors routinely deliver IPLV energy savings of 30-40%, and very quietly (70 dBa at 1m). Recent industry awards include the 2003 AHR-Expo Energy Innovation Award, a 2003 win in the Canadian Energy Efficiency Awards - Equipment Category, and a much-prized Climate Protection Award in 2004 from the Environment Protection Agency.

July 23 - DuPont Landing on Chinese New Refrigerant Market

Recently, DuPont Fluorochemical Division has signed a letter of intent with Zhonghao New Chemical Materials Co., Ltd. and Changshu 3F Fluorochemical Industry, planning to establish a joint venture company which produces mixed HFC refrigerant, and thereby meeting the demand of China's rapidly developing refrigeration and air conditioning sector.
It is said that this joint venture will complete construction of its plant in July 2004, so that its output can meet the demand of both domestic and Asia-Pacific markets. With the unfolding of the ozone layer protection campaign, domestic chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) refrigerant production will be cut by 50% by 2005 and totally phased out by 2010. At the same time, the demand for CFC substitutes - HFC and its mixed refrigerant is continuing to increase. At present, domestic refrigeration and air conditioning equipment manufacturers are gradually beginning to use these new types of refrigerant in their existing systems and new systems with a high energy efficiency ratio.

July 21 - Wolong and Matsushita Set up a Joint Venture for Motors

Following Fujitsu General and Little Swan which set up a joint venture to manufacture miniature motors last year, Wolong and Matsushita (China) have officially signed a joint venture agreement recently to jointly establish Zhejiang Wolong Household Electric Appliance Motor Co., Ltd.
According to the agreement, the joint venture will have a total investment of US$28 million with paid-up capital of US$14 million, of which Wolong will hold a 60% share and Matsushita a 40% share. The cornerstone laying ceremony for the new factory building of this joint venture enterprise was also held in the Shangyu Economic and Technological Development Zone on April 16, 2004, when the agreement was signed.
The newly established Wolong Household Electric Appliance Motor Co. occupies an area of more than 60,000 m², specializes in R & D, production and sales of household electric appliance motors and related products.
Wolong's general manager Mr. Qiu Yue said at the signing ceremony that, through years of development, Wolong has already climbed to the leading position in the field of household electric appliance motors, with each of its economic indicators getting ahead of its competitors all over the country for six consecutive years, has become an important cooperative partner of domestic major AC manufacturers; Matsushita is a well-known enterprise ranked among the global 500 strongest enterprises, and also one of the biggest household electric appliance manufacturers.
Matsushita not only possesses ACs of its own brand, but also has top production technology. It can also mass produce AC motors.
Mr. Qiu also said that the cooperation between both parties will certainly accelerate the integration of Matsushita's global industrial chains and will also greatly speed up Wolong's march toward internationalization so as to finally achieve a win-win target, and stand in a more advantageous position in the global market with motors differentiated from competitors' products.

July 19 - Midea-Wuhu to Win the Domestic Market

Wuhu is a production base of the Midea Group in East China. Wuhu is a city in Anhui Province which is located in the lower reaches of the Changjiang (Yangtze) River. Since March this year, all of Midea's ACs for the domestic market have already been supplied from its Wuhu production base. At present, only Midea's Shunde production base produces export units, inverter units, packaged units and commercial ACs.
Therefore, the position of the Midea Wuhu Company within the group will be further promoted. Recently Midea Group has decided to invest a supplementary 150 million RMB (US$1 = 8.27RMB) in Wuhu so as to further expand the production capacity of its Wuhu base. Recently this Group has set its target sales income at 50 billion RMB to be attained within three years, including 10 billion RMB for Wuhu Company. In order to attain such a strategic target, Midea's headquarters in Shunde, Guangdong, have transferred all businesses for overseas markets since last month. In February Midea set up a new base in Wuhan to conquer the southwest market, while the main attack target of the Wuhu base is eastern and northern China markets. While setting the sales target of the Wuhan base at 2 million sets of AC systems in the next year, the company aims to expand the capacity of the Wuhu base to 3.5 million sets of AC systems and 15 million units of AC motors. Therefore, Wuhu will become the biggest AC production base in eastern China and one of the biggest domestic AC motor manufacturing centers.
So far the Midea Group has already invested one billion RMB in Wuhu to set up its AC company, motor company, and electronics development zone. As a result, the total number of companies has reached 50 with an output of about 7 billion RMB from its complete production network, thus strongly promoting the industrial and economic development of Wuhu City. It has been learned that Midea will also remove the R & D activities for some products to Wuhu so as to enhance the R & D power of its Wuhu subsidiary.

July 17 - Sanyo to Expand Commercial AC Sales

Sanyo Electric intends to expand their commercial AC sales. Since the company has a stronghold in the segment of large ACs such as absorption chillers and GHP (gas heat pump) ACs, they aim to reinforce overseas sales and thereby expand the AC business on a consolidated basis. Overseas AC markets are generally expected to expand reflecting the heat waves of last year in Europe and effects of the expanding Chinese market.
Sanyo, therefore, predicts that overseas AC markets will continue to expand steadily.
Under these circumstances, Sanyo, having the top share in the domestic GHP market, positions the expansion of GHP sales in overseas markets as one of the main strategical pillars, and will take the offensive in the Korean market.
Landed in the Korean market at the earliest stage, the company reorganized the sales network in 2003, having endeavored to expand sales in the growing GHP market and achieved remarkable results.
Since GHPs were authorized as equipment covered by the preferential taxation system in Korea, the Korean GHP market has been expanding rapidly in recent years. With the increasing AC system installations in schools, hospitals and other facilities, GHPs have been spotlighted. By continuing to expand commercial AC sales through 2004, Sanyo aims to attain a 50% increase from 2003.
The company also plans to strengthen its foothold in the European, Chinese and Asian markets. The company enjoyed favorable results in Europe due to the expanded demand triggered by the heat waves of last year.
In the Chinese market, too, the number of commercial ACs shipped in 2003 showed a 10% rise.

July 15 - Michael Giordano Elected to Fedders Board

Fedders Corporation, USA, a leading global manufacturer of air treatment products, including air conditioners, and thermal technology products, recently announced that Mr. Michael Giordano has been elected to its Board of Directors.
Mr. Giordano joined Fedders in 1990 and has been instrumental in expanding the company's growth and presence globally. In 1999, he was elected Executive Vice President, Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer and most recently, in 2004, he was elected to the additional position of President, Fedders International. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President, International, with responsibility for all operations, sales and marketing, research and design engineering of Fedders International and, from 1996 to 1999 he was located in Singapore as Managing Director of Fedders Asia. Before joining Fedders International, Mr. Giordano served as Assistant Director, Global Sourcing of Fedders Corporation and Vice President, Sales of Rotorex Company, Fedders' compressor manufacturing operation. He holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from Rutgers University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Lawrence University.

July 13 - Atofina Rilsan® Active Cuts Down Contamination Risk

Atofina has developed and patented a new polyamide fine powder: Rilsan Active. This latest Rilsan grade contains an antimicrobial agent based on the Sanitized® Silver technology to produce high-performance coatings offering effective long-term protection against bacterial growth.
Tests conducted in-house and confirmed by an independent laboratory (1) in accordance with Standard JIS Z 2801-2000 have shown that Rilsan Active coatings help reduce bacterial population by over 99.99 % on E. coli., S. aureus and L. pneumophila strains (the latter being responsible for Legionnaire's disease). The antimicrobial inorganic agent - Sanitized Silver (2) - contained in Rilsan Active will not migrate. It reduces contamination risk on the surface throughout the polymer's lifetime.
Rilsan Active-based coatings limit the growth of surface micro-organisms whilst maintaining optimum protection of metal parts against corrosion.
Rilsan Active also features the outstanding mechanical properties and comprehensive ageing resistance of standard Rilsan grades, thereby significantly extending the life of metal parts. A solution to wide-ranging sanitary safety issues, Rilsan Active is used in particular to coat hospital equipment, as well as fittings for public places and public transport.

July 11 - Matsushita to Shift All Refrigerators to HC Refrigerant

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. announced recently that the company will shift all refrigerants for household refrigerators to hydrocarbon (HC) refrigerant in 2004. After completing the non-fluorination of refrigerants for small refrigerators below 100r by the end of April, the company plans to non-fluorinate refrigerants of all other refrigerators for the domestic market. In September, the company will further shift refrigerants for exported refrigerators to HC refrigerant. Thus, refrigerators produced in Japan will be totally shifted to those using HC refrigerant. In February 2002, responding to the growing interest in environmental issues, Matsushita released refrigerators using HC refrigerant for the first time in the industry. Since then, the company has continued to shift refrigerators to HC refrigerant models so that 95% of all models now use HC refrigerant. Matsushita is said to be the first maker in the industry to adopt non-fluorinated refrigerants in all models.

July 9 - ARI Launches Certification Web Site

Contractors, architects, engineers, specifiers and consumers now have a Web site hosted by the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) where visitors can access a wealth of information about one of ARI's most important functions - HVACR product certification.
The new Web site at www.ari.org/cert contains hundreds of pages of useful information about ARI's certification programs including:

• Detailed information about each individual ARI certification program including product descriptions and free performance standard downloads;
• Consumer tips on utility rebates, describing the benefits of purchasing ARI-certified equipment and the difference between certified and rated products;
• A section where independent laboratories can solicit bids for conducting product performance testing of HVACR equipment for the 2005 testing year;
• Frequently asked questions, that answers questions manufacturers may have about ARI's certification programs and certified equipment;
• A link to PrimeNet (www.ariprimenet.org), ARI's free online database of certified product performance equipment and access to free downloadable versions of ARI's certified directories.

July 7 - ARBS 2004, The Largest HVACR Expo in Oceania

The Air Conditioning, Refrigeration and Building Services (ARBS) Exhibition took place on May 3 - 5, 2004 at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre in Melbourne, Australia with a participation of about 200 exhibitors. Melbourne was in the autumn season providing a cool weather for visitors to the exhibition.
ARBS 2004, the largest gathering of HVAC & R and building services industry manufacturers, suppliers and wholesalers under one roof in the Southern Hemisphere, provided 10,000 trade visitors with an opportunity to view the latest industry trends and technologies. Also, at ARBS, Australian and international manufacturers, importers and distributors met and talked with buyers, system designers and real decision makers in a planned commercial environment. The exhibitors had an opportunity to openly demonstrate their involvement, commitment and support within this increasingly competitive industry. They seem to have consolidated their industry relationships, communicated with key decision-makers and exposed their companies to the key market players. The Australian AC market is estimated at around 850,000 units including unknown brands shipped in 2003, and is definitely growing year by year.
Concurrently, ARBS 2004 held exclusive 'Technical Tours' that offered a unique behind-the-scenes investigation into the innovative technologies employed by those landmark buildings visited by the participants. Ms. Jennifer Pelvin, Chief Executive of Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning & Heating (A.1.R.A.H.), said "the tour will provide participants with the invaluable first hand experience of seeing air conditioning, refrigeration and building services in operation at each location"
Briefing on Exhibits
The future of the HVAC&R industry is driven by on-going innovations and new technologies. This was highlighted by a large number of exhibitors who displayed groundbreaking and new, unique products with new technologies at ARBS 2004.
As well as local manufacturers and suppliers such as Australian Air Filters, Refrigeration Equipment Sales, Actrol, Kirby, actively exhibiting were such global players as Fujitsu General, LG Electronics, Daikin, Panasonic, Mitsubishi Electric, Trane, Airwell, Lennox, McQauy, Cooline and several Chinese manufacturers - e.g. Chigo, Hualing, Toyo Denki and Bright. Global component makers were also showing their positive presence to the visitors. They included Bitzer, Bock, Carel, Emerson group, ZIEHL-ebm, Danfoss, Alfa Laval, to name a few.

July 5 - LONMARK International Endorses 2005 AHR EXPO

LONMARK International is the latest association to lend its endorsement to the 2005 AHR Expo, February 7-9 in Orlando, Florida, USA. The association joins an impressive list of 18 other endorsing associations that have already lent their support to the leading exposition in the HVAC & R industry.
LONMARK International is recognized worldwide as one of the leading brands for open interoperable control products within the building controls industry. LONMARK International exists to help manufacturers, end-users, equipment specifiers, and system integrators with the easy integration of multi-vendor systems based on the ANSI 709.1 standard. LONMARK International provides the tools and resources that allow cooperation and collaboration to define and develop these devices and networks.
A goal of AHR Expo is to provide industry professionals with solutions to their control challenges and gain a better understanding of the technologies impacting the industry. As an endorser of the AHR Expo, LONMARK International will help promote the benefits of open, interoperable control networks used extensively to automate buildings worldwide.
About LONMARK
Celebrating its tenth anniversary as an association, LONMARK International is recognized worldwide as one of the leading developers and proponents of open systems for use in building, industrial, transportation and residential/utility automation. LONMARK membership is extended to any person, firm, or corporation engaged in the development, distribution, or marketing of open, multi-vendor control systems utilizing ANSI/EIA/CEA 709.1 and related standards.

July 3 - Growing CO₂ Heat Pump Water Heater Market

The market for air-source heat pump water heaters (or air-to-water heat pumps) using carbon dioxide (CO₂) has been growing rapidly in only 3 years since the 1st system was developed in 2001. The home use central water heater market is said to be sized at 3.5 million units/year, with the majority share being occupied by gasfired systems (LNG: 46%, LPG: 34%), while the share of electric systems accounted for only about 6% (a little more than 200,000 units), following the kerosene-fired systems (14%) (in fiscal year (FY) 2001). However, shipments of heat pump water heaters recorded some 37,000 units in FY 2002, and are estimated to have expanded to 75,000 ~ 78,000 units. It is also expected to reach 100,000 ~ 110,000 units in FY 2004, according to a maker's forecast.
The large demand for water heaters is partly attributable to the fact that Japanese people cannot be satisfied with taking a shower alone, and make it a custom to soak in the warm bathtub.
"ECO CUTE"
Since all electric power companies in Japan were allowed to use "ECO CUTE" (Kansai Electric's registered trademark) as a pet name for their heat pump water heaters using natural refrigerant CO₂, it has been made widely known by the general public, coupled with the electric power companies' publicity backup and government's subsidy system. Home electric appliance makers are endeavoring to promote sales of "ECO CUTE" water heater systems, together with air conditioners, IH cooking heaters, dehumidifier- dryers for bathrooms and other appliances under the name of the so-called "all-electric home" scheme.
As the name indicates, at all-electric homes, all light and fuel energy is covered by electricity, thus making it possible to treat appliances simply and safely without causing a fire accident. A heat pump system using CO₂ was proposed by Prof. Gustav Lorentzen at NTNU/SINTEF* in the late 1980s.
Note: The Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research at Norwegian Institute of Technology New concepts of high-side control called the "transcritical" cycle were devised by Prof. Lorentzen and his coworkers in their early patent applications.
The industrial group Norsk Hydro acquired all commercial rights to this technology in 1990. The CO₂ technology developed at NTNU/SINTEF has been licensed to the system manufacturer through Hydro-SINTEF joint venture Shecco Technology. The first heat pump water heating system based on Shecco technology was made by the Japanese Denso Corporation in 2000.
The system (now called "ECO CUTE") is marketed by a number of companies such as Mitsubishi Electric, Daikin, Sanyo Group, Hitachi AC Systems, Matsushita Group, Toshiba Group, Corona (Denso-make), Chofu, etc.

July 1 - Sanyo Releases New Comm'l Cogeneration System (8 kW)

Sanyo Commercial Sales released from April 2004 the SGS-W08A2(N/ P)11, a new "8 kW Commercial Cogeneration System" with a separate hot water storage tank. In the same product lineup, there is a system with a built-in hot water storage tank which was released in April last year, and these two models can widely meet the needs of users.
A cogeneration system produces electricity by driving a power generator with a gas engine, while recovering waste heat to utilize it for hot water supply.
Having reached the industry's highest overall energy efficiency of 91.2%, the new product can reduce the running cost by high efficiency operation. Like conventional systems, the new system can cut down energy consumption by controlling the engine speed (rpm) most efficiently according to the electric power load fluctuations.
Since the hot water storage tank is installed separately, the user can choose a tank suitable for specific use, and connect the system with a tank or boiler suitable for each season, so that it is ideal for users needing more hot water supply such as hotels and large medical treatment facilities. It is applicable to a wide range of fields, since it can be connected to units other than hot water supply, such as desiccant ACs and floor heaters.
It also becomes possible to connect the system to the remote monitoring system "3S Net" released in October 2002 by adding a remote monitoring adapter, thus allowing a dedicated engineer to monitor 24 hours a day 365 days a year.
Since April last year, the company has been providing a service to report the monthly operational conditions to each user.
The new system has also attained the industry's longest gas engine maintenance interval of 10,000 hours, thus realizing further maintenance savings.
By means of a weekly timer function, up to 5 patterns of preferential operation can be reserved everyday.
The power generation output is 8 kW and hot water output is 22 kW.

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