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issue: May 2008 APPLIANCE Magazine
Tokyo Report
Asian HVAC Associations Hold Tokyo Summit |
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by Wasaku Ishida, Japan correspondent, and president, JARN (Japan Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration News)
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The Japan Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Industry Association (JRAIA), the China Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Industry Association (CRAA), and the Korea Refrigeration Air-Conditioning Industry Association (KRAIA) held a symposium in Tokyo on February 13, 2008. The associations’ primary purpose in meeting was to begin establishing a mutual system for certifying air-conditioning performance.
The three countries account for a large percentage of the world’s total air-conditioning production, and the industry structures in the three countries are similar.
The industry currently makes widespread use of U.S. performance standards, the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) and the Heating Seasonal Performance Factor (HSPF), as well as Japan’s Annual Performance Factor (APF) standard. China and Korea, however, use other metrics, which has caused difficulty for customers seeking to evaluate the performance of these appliances.
The Test Lab in Atsugi City, Japan, has already begun to mutually verify air-conditioner test data with Korea and Australia. During the February meeting, JRAIA introduced a plan for the expansion of mutual air-conditioner certifications among the three summit attendee countries. All three associations expressed a desire to expand this type of cooperation. CRAA plans to use APF for packaged air-conditioners (PAC), including variable refrigerant flow (VRF) products, produced in China.
Much will be accomplished simply by adopting a unified naming system, which is one of the steps agreed upon by the three associations. Currently, identical air-conditioning appliances can have different names in the different countries, leading to confusion.
The associations also agreed to create joint air-conditioning production statistics in the future.
