With last summer’s record heat wave still fresh in our minds, summer weather has become increasingly severer in recent years. Under such conditions, what are the expected roles of residential air conditioners?
In the current Japanese market, sensing air conditioning, air conditioning in which sensors detect and track human presence to deliver optimal airflow to each person, is becoming mainstream. While it is true that indoor comfort differs according to the individual, focusing on individuals with minimum air conditioning only temporarily creates optimal conditions and may also create gaps in comfortable space.
Not only that, in providing instantaneous comfort, this minimum air conditioning used for sensing air conditioning consumes an enormous amount of energy to neutralize the thermal effect from building frames, such as home walls and floors. This leads to deterioration in long-term energy efficiency. Consequently, the difficulty in achieving both sustainable comfort and energy savings has been an issue in sensing air conditioning.
For this reason, in the new Urusara 7 series, we not only focus on the comfort of the entire space, the central point of air conditioning, but also aim to create a genuinely comfortable space that accounts for the effects of thermal storage of the home. Building frames, such as walls and floors, constantly affect indoor air. This inspired us to add a rotary sensor to measure the heat stored in rooms, thereby delivering optimal air conditioning depending on the current indoor environment.
Designing airflow
This time we saw the flap controlling air as the most important functional component in air conditioning. In general, the flap fits inside the casing when the air conditioner is turned off; however, the Urusara 7 series has round parts around the flap. Separating the flap from the casing allows the air conditioner to precisely control airflow and minimize the contrast in appearance between OFF/ON.
Furthermore, the flap position largely changes depending on operating conditions, such as cooling and heating, to fill the entire space with comfortable air. The Urusara 7 series features Daikin’s unique advanced airflow control technologies that only an air specialist can offer, such as circulation airflow, which cools spaces by directing air toward the ceiling, and vertical airflow, which warms from the feet by sending air toward the floor. We carefully adjusted the bottom line of the casing based on the flap position to harmonize with interior designs irrespective of operating conditions.
Avoid being an eyesore that clashes with interior designs
It also took time to blend coating colors for the round parts. Together with a coating manufacturer, we created the color scheme from scratch, aiming to prevent the equipment from being an eyesore that clashes with interior designs, while helping the flap appear to be separate from the casing. We blended translucent white into base metallic coating to produce unique opaqueness, giving a subtle impression as if the unit were part of the interior from the beginning.
With a reverse-R shape, the round parts separate the flap from the casing. It also conceals the operating mode display to create a simple impression overall.
For natural healthy life
Today, air conditioners are essential to our lives as important infrastructure. The Urusara 7 series aims to provide more than just comfortable air with a perspective broadened to include home conditions to create an optimal space for both comfort and energy efficiency.
As expressed by the phrase “like air,” air is something that is vital and always with us. Our aim is that users enjoy comfortable air and lead a natural healthy life even without being aware of air or air conditioners.
