The company claims that the air conditioner is the first of its kind in the world

Panasonic on June 19 launched what it called the world’s first tropical inverter air conditioner in Dubai. The system, the company said, is designed to meet the region’s challenging climatic conditions. The launch took place during a technical seminar at Westin Hotel.

The smart inverter compressor, Panasonic said, delivers 1.5 times faster cooling and also a savings of 30% on power consumption.

The new technology, Panasonic said, has made it possible for an 18,000 Btu air conditioner to reach up to 22,000 Btu and a 24,000 Btu model to reach up to 27,000 Btu. Furthermore, Panasonic said, the new technology manages the speed of the compressor, resulting in up to 30% less energy consumption, compared to a non-inverter model.

Deepak Krishnan, Assistant Manager – Large Applications, Appliance Product Marketing Division, at Panasonic, who led the presentation, said that it is a big plus to control the speed of the compressor and that the system was successfully tested for a year in Middle Eastern conditions in Kuwait. “We tested for T3 conditions, and a Malaysia-based third-party body helmed the test,” Krishnan said.

With a COP of 3.2, the air conditioning system meets the requirements of Kuwait’s MEW (3.0 at 48ºC) but not Estidama’s requirement, which stands at 3.4. Krishnan said the new technology has achieved an EER of 7.99 at 48ºC in UAE test conditions and an EER of 8.02 at 46ºC.

Earlier during the seminar, Hidekazu Tachibana, the Director of the Consumer Electronics Department at Panasonic Marketing (MEA), said that the tropical inverter represents a path-breaking technology for tropical climates, like in the GCC.

Besides the inverter compressor, which according to Panasonic, is tailor-made for GCC conditions, the new technology features a tightly sealed electrical component box, which prevents fine sand particles from getting into the high-precision inverter circuit.

Also, an original auto-cooling system, the company said, prevents the temperature inside the box from rising due to heat generated by the circuit board.

According to Panasonic, the technology also boasts the new ECONAVI system, with an incorporated Sunlight Detection feature, which detects changes in the intensity of sunlight in the room to reduce the waste of cooling under less sunlight conditions.

The ECONAVI uses high-precision human sensor and control program technologies to optimise air conditioner operation according to room conditions, Panasonic claimed during the seminar. These technologies, Panasonic said, help detect unnecessary waste of energy.