Latest innovation in HVAC technologies for hotel buildings

How to maintain IAQ in the hospitality industry?

Ongoing pandemic has changed the expectation of our customers. Nowadays, customers demand a neat and clean room along with good quality of air which is free from disease causing organisms. Requirement of fresh air has always been in demand, but it never use to be prioritized above the other factors. 

In the current scenario, indoor air quality maintenance has become an important factor to be kept in mind. The hospitality industry is a sector that sees a steady influx of clients from all walks of life, providing services to a diverse range of people on a daily basis. The ability to maintain healthy and hygienic premises for the clients is one of the most important components of hospitality, and air quality inside and outside the premises is important to be considered. By now, we all are aware of the importance of keeping our environment fresh and clean. Air pollution is a serious health hazard in India with a rapid rise in PM 2.5 and other air pollutants in various cities of the country. Like outside, indoor air carries numerous contaminants like Nitrogen dioxide, Formaldehyde, Aerosols, VOCs (volatile organic compounds), chemicals etc. These contaminants serve as breeding grounds for different airborne microbes and are the root cause behind allergies, cold and flu. 

Thus, it’s extremely important to provide a proper ventilation system, and so the hotel management is also working on this concern by installing proper ventilation systems in the hotel rooms and corridors. 

Mitsubishi Electric has introduced Plasma Quad Filters which can reduce the spread of different kinds of viruses and can filter the particles which are bigger in size than PM2.5. These filters can be retrofitted to the existing Mitsubishi Electric- products without causing any damage to the existing interior layouts. These filters are designed and manufactured at the factory located in Japan.

There are currently no regulations or standards in place to assess the appropriate Indoor Air Quality. However, there are several simple steps to maintain IAQ and can be adopted by the hospitality industry:

1. Keep the floors clean and smelling good

With so many people coming and going, it's critical to keep the floor clean and smelling fresh at all times. To do so, you should get it disinfected and cleaned on a regular basis, especially in locations that experience heavy footfall. Make sure that the cleaning staff remains on their toes as a dirty floor contributes to reducing the IAQ, risking the health of the people inside.

2. Maintain a Healthy Humidity Level

It is not just the cleaning and wiping of surfaces that is important to keep the air quality optimum in any establishment. To get the best IAQ, you also need to ensure the right level of humidity. The right amount of moisture in the air will work wonders in your favour. For this, you can opt for humidifiers and dehumidifiers based on what a particular area needs.

3. Circulation of Air in a Proper Manner

It can also be an issue if you are trapped in a room or location that makes you feel claustrophobic. It is important for any establishment, particularly one with a large number of patrons, to ensure that each room and area has adequate air circulation. One should not feel claustrophobic inside.

4. Clean the Ducts of air conditioner

It is true that central air conditioning help in improving the air quality of a building, but this is something that needs periodic maintenance as well. To make sure it is in good working condition is one way to make sure that it helps improve air quality. Get your AC ducts cleaned at regular intervals and change the air filters whenever necessary.

5. Ensure that there is adequate ventilation

Installing a decent ventilation system is critical if your organization is large or has a high footfall. This will maintain continuous airflow, which will help in the maintenance of good indoor air quality.

What is the specific points of consideration while designing an HVAC system and selecting products for hotel buildings?

While designing an HVAC system, there are many factors which are to be considered but the most important one is comfort of the customer. However, the definition of comfort varies from customer to customer, for example: 24°C can be cool for someone who has been in a hot and dry climate for a long time and the same temperature can be hot for someone who comes from a cold climatic zone. Therefore, HVAC system should be designed in such a way that it can adjust as per the requirement of each individual. Good air quality, highly efficient operation in part load conditions and easy to use simple controls are some of the other factors which should be kept in mind while designing an HVAC system for hotels.

Covid-19 pandemic as its after effect has highlighted the importance of indoor air quality which continues to be a priority for a long time now. The designing of an HVAC system shall be in such a way that it should be capable of maintaining good indoor air quality and shall also be capable of neutralizing the diseases causing organisms. While selecting the product for hotel buildings it is important to make sure that it is efficient enough to cope up with the heavy footfall and diverse conditions as per the customer requirements

Reliability is another important factor which should be considered while designing an HVAC system. While the hotel room is occupied, the smooth and trouble-free operation of the HVAC system is extremely important as no guest would like to switch rooms or invite technicians to their rooms just for some issues faced in the HVAC system. 

The HVAC system should be capable of adjusting to the various occupancy needs which can be different between the time of the day or can vary from season to season. HVAC system should be designed in such a way that it can easily fit the varying occupancy rates with minimum power consumption.

How different is the treatment of air conditioning systems in this sector?

Comfortable ambient temperature is the very basic attribute of the Hospitality Sector. There are other factors as well that makes hospitality iconic like ambience, food, culture, music etc. But ambient temperature forms the core which cannot be compromised, and we understand this challenge that air conditioning in hospitality is not a luxury but a basic necessity.

As a company, we understand that Indoor air conditioning is critical in Hospitality and we offer a host of customized solutions that make us a preferred partner for Hospitality. New Age solutions from our wide range of air conditioning products from Room Air Conditions to VRF with solutions like Zoning, Branch Box etc. form the core of our technology for hospitality which is efficient and reliable so that the end-users in hospitality are thrilled by the experience of seamless comfort.

What are the advancements and newer technologies adopted in the HVAC segment?

As a company, we are moving from standard global products which we used to sell in India to customised products Made for India. These new range of products are designed in Japan keeping the Indian situation of climate, power situation and weather complexities in mind.

For example, we launched a new range of 5-star Air Conditioners, MSY GR and MSY GR-T Series. The MSY GR Series are empowered with Inverter Technology and MSY GR(T) Series are caters to tropical climate with a new tropical Inverter cooling technology.

We have also introduced the next generation CITY-MULTI VRF called the R2 Series.

This new age technology has many new features that makes it a cut above the rest like:

• Heat recovery system: Mitsubishi Electric introduced the World’s first 2-pipe heat recovery system, reducing piping and connections compared with 3-pipe systems.

• Heat recovery for high efficiency: With the heat recovery system, the more frequently the simultaneous cooling and heating function is used, the higher is the energy savings achieved.

• Increased efficiency: New components have been added to improve energy-saving performance. Compared to the existing models, all the single modules have an improved EER. EER of the 40kW model is higher by approximately 20%.

• Extended temperature range in cooling up to 52°C: Certain types of installation and areas with a high density of constructions can obstruct the passage of air. In very high outdoor temperature conditions and if the air expelled from the ventilator of the unit is not correctly removed, it may stagnate and increase the air temperature around the machine. Thanks to the extended temperature range up to 52°C the system can continue to operate without interruptions even in these conditions.

Which selective products out of the extensive product portfolio caters to this industry’s diverse needs?

Mitsubishi Electric has been contributing with HVAC solutions to various sectors with its wide product range. The Variable Refrigerant Flow of the VRF is an optimum solution for the Hospitality industry as it can deliver customised comfort with maximum energy efficiency. The hospitality sector has varying occupancy and diverse guest choices. This leads to varying HVAC requirements for maximum comfort which can be handled efficiently by an inverter technology based VRF System. Also, the City Multi-VRF system have a very high part load efficiency which leads to the maximum energy saving. One of the added advantages of a City Multi-VRF system is it’s reliability. The system has an inbuilt fault detection feature which leads to lower downtime. Thus, a mix of reliability and efficiency make City Multi-VRF system a very robust offering for the hospitality industry.

The product range of our air conditioners are so diverse that we can give a bundled HVAC solution considering the application like the dynamic and large areas that are found in the hotels which need

Room Air Conditioners or Semi-Commercial Air Conditioners like Cassette or Concealed systems which are easy to be installed and have variation of usage and cyclicity.

Also, Mitsubishi Electric offers the smart and efficient range of Jet Towels which are a key product for the hospitality segment due to its key feature of hygienic and quick hand drying time which reduces waste for the hospitality industry.

How is HVAC driving focus toward the green building movement?

The HVAC systems are driving focus towards the green building to reduce the energy consumption levels and simultaneously maintain comfortable interior conditions, to bring out healthy and productive outcomes for the end user.

If we talk about any establishment, HVAC systems diversely affect the green building concept as the maximum percentage of the energy used in a building depends on the performance of an HVAC system. 

Mitsubishi Electric is very conscious about the environmental impacts and the green company is eager to take responsibilities related to the environment. It offers diverse Green Building HVAC products and technologies like VRF-Air conditioning Systems (CITY MULTI), Kirigamine Zen (MSZ-EF series) Air- Conditioners with Heat-pump and Inverter Technology and very high EER, heat pump for round the year usage, MSH GE Series- Split Type Air conditioners with Heat pump, Packaged Air conditioners (Mr. Slim)- Ceiling Cassette units with auto Updown grill with i- see sensor technology.

The company offers inverter based Airconditioning products which are suitable for various applications inside a hotel room.   Mitsubishi Electric comes with concealed units for guest rooms, large capacity units for auditorium, restaurants etc. Mitsubishi Electric has a wide range of Indoor 

units which are suitable for any type of interior layout required for hotels. Inverter based VRF system coupled with Variable Evaporative technology and variable valve design helps our products to deliver the desired comfort with minimum power consumption.  

Mitsubishi Electric Air Conditioners are designed in Japan and are known for their high reliability. Highly reliable product makes the system well accepted by the hotel managements as very less down time is required by the units.  All Mitsubishi Electric products are designed keeping the Environmental Sustainability Vision 2050 in mind which aims at long-term, sustained efforts to solve global environmental issues. We design our products in such a way that they have less carbon footprint during manufacturing as well as for the entire life cycle of the product.