“Climate World – 2009” expo: impossible is achievable
From the 10th till the 13th of March, 2009, in Moscow, there took place the fifth, anniversary, international specialized exhibition “Climate World – 2009” representing the whole range of the Russian climate industry market. Among the participants there were leading international and Russian manufacturers, distributors, engineering, mounting and project companies, industry associations, companies providing services for training specialists at the Russian market of systems of conditioning, heating, air ventilation, industrial and commercial cooling equipment. Such manufacturers as AHI CARRIER, ALISEO GROUP, ARCELIK A.S., BALLU, BITZER, DANTEX, EBM-PAPST, FRICO, GENERAL CLIMATE, GEOCLIMA, GREE, HAIER, HITACHI, LG ELECTRONICS, ROLS ISOMARKET, ROSENBERG, SHANGHAI VS IMP&EXP., SHARP ELECTRONICS, SYSTEMAIR, TESTO AG, WEISS KLIMATECHNIK, ZIEHL-ABEGG; AMALVA ; VEZA , DELSOT , CLIMATVENTMACH , MEDVED CONCERN , KORF , LISSANT VENTILATION PLANT, NORMAL VENT , TEPLOMASH , TROPIK , FOLTER , RM VENT, VKT, KRUKOVSKY VENTILARONY ZAVOD, PROMKHOLOD, NOVENCO, AERMEC, BAUKLIMA, SPS-KHOLOD, FREETECH, CIAT DISTRIBUTION, and many others presented their own stands. Chinese factories were also widely represented (over 30 stands), among others – Galanz, Midea factories groups. The production of other manufacturers was presented at the stands of Russian distributors.
Within “Climate World-2009” project framework, there operate five sections two of which have been independent exhibitions since 2008. These are HVAC equipment exhibitionsconditioning and ventilation, heating and energy saving, centralized air-conditioning and VRF-systems, air moisturizing and cleaning systems) and industrial and trading cooling equipment exhibitions(component parts, accessories, tools, cooling cabinets, boxes, counters, shop windows, complexes and warehouses, cryogenic equipment and technologies), as well as sections devoted to buildings automation and management systems; tools, consumables, cooling agents, oils, and, finally, to training, employment, consulting services at HVAC&R market.
The exhibition was participated by representatives of 35 countries of the world: Russia, Belorussia, China, Greece, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Slovakia, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, USA, Austria, Belgium, Lithuania, Ukraine, Czech Republic, UK, Denmark, Israel, Finland, Japan, Korea, Thailand and others. Overall area of exposition – 18 000 sq. m, number of companies-exhibitors – about 300, number of visitors – 12 000 persons.
Overall situation at the market
The financial crisis that touched the field of construction very notable, has also told on the industry exhibitions. Even now, many of the organizers declare officially on decrease of exhibition areas by 10-20%, and there are rumors that from 15 to 50% of participants are likely to be missing. The area of “Climate World” expo had decreased only by 5,5%, and the number of participants had decreased by only 8%.
It seemed that the strike on the industry was so hard, the fall in sales was so significant, and the circumspection is so strong, that the participants of market would likely to be concentrating on the current problems which would mean that the event could hardly be completed. “This year, many were afraid that the expo would not take place and, for some reason, many had negative attitude in advance. I did not share these expectations and I see now that I was right. The exhibition went not bad, at least, not worse than in the past year, that's for sure", said in the interview Leonid Kiryakov, the head of “Inrost”, “Nimal” companies and of “Climate World” expo’s sponsor – General Climate company.
But the apprehensions turned out in vain. The exhibition was complete, it was bright and representative. "Gree Electric Appliance Inc. company and its distributor in Russia,–"Euroclimate" company, are satisfied by the outcome of participation in the most significant Russian exhibition for climatic and cooling equipment. We would like to congratulate the organizers – Association of Professional Companies in Industry of Climate (APIC) and “Euroexpo” company on the brilliant conduct of the anniversary exhibition “Climate World”; also we would like to thank them for the status of the “Official sponsor” granted to us this year. Our active participation in the work of the exhibition stresses out the importance of the Russian market for GREE brand”, said after the exhibition Mikhail Beizman, advertisement and marketing department head at “Euroclimate” company.
Scientific symposium
Within the framework of the exhibition, there took place the three-day symposium “The state and prospects of climatic equipment market development in Russia” organized by the Training Center of the Association of Professional companies in Industry of Climate (APIC) and by the Association of Engineers for Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning, Heat Supply and Building Thermal Physics (ABOK). Guests of the exhibition met with directors and specialists of the largest climatic companies of Russia, representatives of companies-manufacturers of climatic equipment, experts of the Training and consulting center of APIC and ABOK specialists.
On the first day, APIC’s Executive Director, Dmitry Kusin told about the structure of the HVAC-business school of APIC, its position in the modern manpower development system, and on the achievements, plans and new training courses. There were held master-classes for mounters of conditioning and ventilation systems, sales managers, specialists in climatic equipment automation systems.
The second day of the scientific program was devoted to discussion of the issues of regulatory and methodological support for design and construction. Presentation and discussion of new regulatory documents, standards, and specialized literature took place at the seminar held by ABOK. One of the topics of higher interest was various aspects of individual apartment heating in residential houses, the variants of implementation and recommendations for calculations.
On the third day of the exhibition, there was made a report on the current state and the prospects of climatic market development during the crisis. The situation is that the specialists expect inevitable fall of sales of climatic equipment, and the only difference in forecasts is the numeric estimates for various sectors of the market. “Due to the uncertainty of the situation, many projects and sites are closing, especially those with weak economical feasibility. So, we have a real reason for thinking the current situation over and making conclusions we don’t usually have time for in “peaceful times”. We have to live this period through, like it happened before. Good thing is that no companies which did not specialize in our business will remain at the market”, thinks Oleg Drobin, Marketing Director at “Aeroprof” company.
In the opinion of APIC analysts, the situation at the market started having crisis features already by the end of the last season, when it became clear that the warehouse stocks exceeded 25%. Experts announced their forecasts for the market fall in different sectors during 2009. Their data differ – according to some forecasts, for example, VRF market will fall by 50% while according to other forecasts this market will be harmed least of all and its fall will not exceed 25%. Import volumes of wall split systems and multi-split systems is to decrease by about 50%, and that of industrial split systems – by 25%. What happens in reality – only time will show. But all opinions have one thing in common: there will be the fall, and the most harmed will be small companies and regional companies accustomed to working with large objects only. There will be no large objects. And the structure of demand has changed drastically. For example, in the sector of household split systems, expensive series are in the greatest demand. At that, no special hot weather which could partly improve the situation is expected in the summer of 2009.
Experts consider the most stable mid-size companies which specialists’ qualification is sufficient for designing VRF-systems, competent calculations and consideration of real needs of their customers.
In conclusion of the scientific program, the representatives of the largest equipment manufacturers (Gree, General Climate, LG Electronics, Panasonic, Daikin, Midea, Mitsubishi Electric, Samsung, Sanyo, Hitachi, Haier, York, etc.) presented their novelties. The complete list of the speakers, topics of their reports and presentations can be obtained at the site of the exhibition: www.climatexpo.ru.
In parallel, in three conference-halls, there were held seminars organized by the participants of the exhibition.
Novelties of the exhibition
Russian market drew attention to itself for the first time by increasing purchase volumes in 2008. In the coming season, Russia also has its quota at conditioners warehouses in Europe. A range of manufacturers who were represented only by their household lines, are planning to sell in 2009 industrial systems as well.
Thus, in the new season, Gree company is coming to the Russian market of industrial climatic equipment. In particular, multizonal system GMV-Rh was presented as a novelty. This is a three-pipe system with heat utilization, possibility of simultaneous operation of the inner units both for cooling and heating, and having support for channel and cartridge inner units with cooling capacity from 2.2 to 11.2 kW. Cooling capacity of outer units is 20, 25 and 30 kW. Manufacturers stress out the unit’s high energy efficiency: COPmax=7 (in certain conditions considering heat recovery).
The second novelty presented by Gree at the Russian market is air-cooled modular chillers with spiral compressors (LSBLGF series). The system is more fail-proof, it is possible to disconnect one of the units for maintenance and repair without stopping the whole system.
10 models of air-cooled mini-chillers (HL®…S/A-M series) can also be sued for creating modular systems. A single group with the capacity of up to 360 kW can unite up to 8 such modules. Cooling capacity of a single module is from 19 to 45 kW, heating capacity – from 20 to 54 kW, operating temperature range – from -15°C to +43°C.
Mitsubishi Electric company presented heat pumps of ZUBADAN Inverter series. It is known, that the productivity of heat pumps using low-potential heat of the outside air for room heating decreases as the outside air temperature decreases. And this decrease is rather significant: at the temperature of minus 20°C the heating capacity is 40% lower than the nominal value indicated in the specifications and measured at the temperature of +7°C. For this very reason, the heat pumps are not considered in Russia as a full-rate heating device. But this attitude may change drastically when ZUBADAN Inverter series appears.
At its presentation, operation of the unit at negative temperatures was illustrated by charts. Specialists showed special interest to the materials about projects already implemented at the territory of Russia and Ukraine. Among those – schools without centralized gas supply, suburban manufacturing enterprise, medical center and others.
Daikin company that participated this year in the exhibition scientific program only, presented various new types of equipment, including those from the goods groups that had never been imported to Russia before. Among other novelties, one can mention air-ventilation units, channel-type inner units, air cleaners with moisturizing function, and industrial multi-split systems with independently operating inner units and air-moisturizing option. Besides air-conditioning systems, Daikin is ready to supply to Russia cooling equipment and heating systems based on “air-water” heat pumps Altherma.
LG Electronics company presented in 2009 at the Russian market Klebio and Glory Inverter series of household systems. In these systems, in addition to the high-performance air filter Neo Plasma, new anti-allergic filter Allergy Free is used. The cases of inside units and mounting plates have been modified to increase the space for pipelines. This ensures high adaptability of mounting and closer abutment of the unit to the wall; this, together with other design solution, decreases noise level significantly. In night-mode it does not exceed 20 dB.
In 2009, Panasonic introduces at the Russian market split-systems Super Deluxe CS/CU-XE9,12,18,24 JKD and Deluxe CS/CU-E9,12, 15,18, 21, 24, 28 JKD with inverter control. Improved air-cleaning system e-ion has become even more effective due to installed in the inside unit a new cross-flow fan increasing air flow by more than 15%. The system neutralizes more than 99% hazardous viruses, bacteria, mold spores. Models with up to 12 000 BTU feature low noise level and are ideal choice for children’s room and bedrooms.
Starting from December, 2008, Panasonic started delivering to the Russian market multi-zonal conditioners of MASTER series – Multiple Air-conditioning System Technology for Excellent Residence equipped with inverter-controlled compressors. Outside units of the series are presented by powers of up to 6 hp (up to 18,2 kW) and 10 hp (up to 36,4 kW). The inner units of the cartridge and wall-mounted type have the power from 2,6 to 12 kW.
At the stands of Haier company, visitors had an opportunity of familiarizing themselves with the new multi-zonal air conditioning system MRV III which is compatible with 6 kinds of inside units of 44 sizes. The range of MRV III outside units sizes covers 21 standard sizes ranging from 22,6 kW to 135 kW in power. A single outside unit can be connected to up to 40 inside units. The overall length of freon main constitutes up to 300 meters, elevation difference between the outside and inside units – up to 50 meters, and the maximum distance from an inside unit to the outside one – up to 150 meters.
The new ventilation air-handling unit with heat recovery – ERV by Haier – is sustainable system for household and public buildings. The distinguishing features of this system are as follows: cost effectiveness, compact design, low noise level, scalability. The standard series of units having capacity from 150 to 1000 m3 makes it possible to use them in residential apartments, cottages, small-area offices, shops and other similar premises.
In 2009, Hitachi company is presenting at the Russian market a new premium-class series – XH. The model features elegant design and high productivity (EER = 5,38/COP = 5,47). The filters are kept permanently clean by the automated cleaning unit, and a special wasabi-cartridge prevents formation of mold in the dust collector. The system is equipped with the air quality sensor detecting any contamination (tobacco smoke, smells of alcohol, sprays, etc.) and activates plasma mode of air cleaning. The conditioner is designed for operation at ambient air temperature from minus 20°C in heating mode and features lowered noise level of the inside unit (20 dB).
From January, 2009, Samsung company started supplying a range of new models of multi-zonal systems with 3rd generation heat recovery system – DVM PLUS 3 HR, with the aggregate capacity of up to 200 kW, and of new series of household conditioners Crystal and Max equipped with advanced surge protection system.
Sharp company presented a new model range of air-cleaners KC-860E, KC-850E, KC-840E with a unique technology of air ionization and cleaning – Plasmacluster and air-moisturizing option. The unique Plasmacluster technology efficiently deactivates viruses, bacteria, mold spores, flower dust, allergic agents and other hazardous admixtures present in the air, and, after the process of air cleaning is over, this function maintains the proportion of positive and negative ions in the room at the ideal level of natural environment.
At the stand of “Testo Rus”, among other novelties, there was presented a system for collection and transmission of microclimate parameters – Testo Saveris – which allows to use only correct values.
ROLS Isomarket company presented a complete range of heat insulating materials Energoflex for air conditioning and ventilation systems; besides, the company presented its innovation – Energoflex Black Start Split intended for pipes heat-insulation in air conditioning systems installed outdoors.
Russian manufacturers demonstrated several types of technologies of conditioners winterization. Besides that, equipment for climatic systems operation independent control was demonstrated; this equipment is easy-to-use and is very handy for servicing engineers.
In general, the following can be said for sure: the exhibition was successful, the market is alive and its main participants are ready for active struggle. After it became obvious for everybody, even those who had pessimistic before cheered up. The companies became more active, started to work – and this, by itself, is conductive for situation recovery. Mikhail Korotkevich, Technical Director of Ventrade company confessed: “I thought, that everything would be sad in the current economical situation. But I’m pleased to see I was wrong. Life goes on. It can be seen, that a number of companies fell out of the race, but most of the leading climatic companies presented their expositions at the exhibition, as always. And the intense interest to the climatic field shown by the main actors of the exhibitions – the visitors is a special joy. The number of visitors at our stand not only was in line with our expectations, but exceeded them”.