WHAT ARE THE IAQ-RELATED MANUFACTURING AND SUPPLY TRENDS WE ARE LIKELY TO SEE IN THE COMING YEARS?

Increased ventilation rates and increased percentage of fresh air – as opposed to recirculating indoor air – will certainly be a key trend, as well as improving filtration rates. Increasing the fresh air component through systems designed to mostly work based on air recirculation, like most current compressor-based systems, would mean a significant increase in power consumption; this will drive the demand for more efficient systems and for systems based on different concepts, such as evaporative cooling. The balance between energy efficiency and IAQ will be the key parameter driving system design, going forward. Smarter controls and air quality monitoring systems – also to adapt rates to buildings’ occupancy rates – will also gain popularity.

Samuele Peli

HOW DOES THE GCC REGION COMPARE TO THE REST OF THE WORLD WHEN IT COMES TO THE UPTAKE OF IAQ STRATEGIES AND TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS?

With a combination of extreme climatic conditions – in terms of peak temperatures and humidity levels – and gigantic buildings, the GCC [region] is one of the most demanding and challenging markets, globally. Comparatively low – although on the rise – electricity cost has allowed for many projects to be oversized, with the necessity of increasing the fresh air component and bypassing heat recovery wheels and the like. Cooling demand might surge once businesses will go back into full swing mode.

IAQ HAS TRADITIONALLY BEEN IGNORED. DO YOU SEE GREATER UPTAKE NOW? SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT MAKE SOME ASPECTS RELATED TO MEP DESIGN AND INSTALLATION MANDATORY TO ENSURE GREATER ADHERENCE TO IAQ NEEDS?

My answer is “yes” to both questions. There has certainly been a significant uptake of practices to fight COVID spread, and HVAC organisations have done a great work in regulating this matter, but going forward, these should be made mandatory by governments.

WHAT IAQ-RELATED R&D HAVE YOU UNDERTAKEN THAT YOU CAN SHARE WITH READERS OF CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST?

We have invested more than 25 million Australian Dollars in R&D every year and are employing more than 70 expert HVAC engineers, who are working on revolutionary, “over the horizon” product innovations. At Seeley International, we are proud to have always been in the front line when it comes to IAQ attention. Most of our products operate providing 100% fresh, filtered, cooled air, thus overcoming all issues related to indoor air recirculation. More new products are in our R&D pipeline, all of them with maximum focus on IAQ. Most of our R&D was already going in this direction – delivering our customer healthy cooled air at a fraction of the energy consumption of “conventional” technologies.

COULD YOU BRIEFLY DESCRIBE CW3? YOU CLAIM THAT IT DELIVERS UP TO 80% REDUCTION IN ENERGY COSTS, AS COMPARED TO REFRIGERATED SYSTEMS. WHAT ARE THE TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS MADE IN THIS PRODUCT?

The CW3 uses Seeley International’s latest innovation – a new Micro-Core technology for smaller or uniquely challenging applications. The concept of how it works remains basically unchanged, combined with equally effective cooling performance found in Seeley’s Climate Wizard’s other commercial models. The new Micro-Core technology allows a much more compact footprint, making the new product also suitable for residential or small commercial applications.

WHAT ARE THE FEATURES AND BENEFITS OF USING INDIRECT EVAPORATIVE COUNTERFLOW HEAT EXCHANGE CORE TO PROVIDE HYPER-EFFICIENT COOLING?

There are many benefits to this new technology. If I were to just pick three, I would say:

(1) The improvement in IAQ, thanks to no recirculation and pre-filtration.

(2) The fact that total cooling performance increases when the air temperature rises is an especially interesting feature in very warm climates like in the Gulf.

(3) The fact that it reduces the energy use and improves the cooling performance of existing refrigerated systems, and all these without using any synthetic refrigerants or chemicals to harm the environment is a plus.