CIAT are not just back-room boffins when it comes to developing innovations in air conditioning and air movement technology. The company, now owned by UTC and part of the growing Toshiba Carrier business, is taking its latest developments to the people with a 25,000 mile roadshow that is crossing continents. The CIAT technology tour includes stops in 20 countries, with events in 70 cities across Europe, North Africa, Russia and Turkey.

The UK leg, which kicked off in May, involved Roadshows in Scotland, the north of England, the West country, South of England, and culminated in London, at Twickenham Stadium. One of the star attractions is the company's new ClimaCiat range of air handling units, the result of several years' development at its worldwide R&D centre in Culoz, France. It is not a single range of AHUs, in fact, but covers three different series of equipment, making up one of the most comprehensive AHU offerings on the market. CIAT's Airtech, Airclean and Airaccess have been designed from the ground up, and embody many technical advances that combine to transform their performance, energy efficiency, ease of installation and cost-effectiveness. The fully modular range features some 26 options that can be customised in order to meet precise project requirements.

They are certified to perform to the latest European Standards (EN 13053 and EN 1886), with design features enabling them to comply with and meet future regulatory requirements applicable from 2018. The units are available as single-flow and dual-flow horizontal units for indoor installation or outdoor installation, with canopy and weather-resistant protective accessories.  The flagship model is the ClimaCiat Airtech range. Built in nine capacity sizes, it has air flow rates of up to 30,000cu m in the first phase of the product roll-out, with higher capacity units in the pipeline. Airtech can be applied in a wide range of applications, including offices, commercial and retail developments and industrial facilities.

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Options to address specific needs include double-wall construction and 50mm insulation for extra noise attenuation, polyester-coated exterior panels, low thermal-bridge construction, doors on frames and adaptable control systems. Airclean is CIAT's air-handling solution for controlled and critical environments, such as clean rooms, medical and pharmaceutical facilities and the micro-electronics sector. It meets the extremely high requirements of such ultra-clean environments, with reference to airtightness, absolute filtration, and protection from contamination.  These exacting requirements have been met in a design that can still be easily serviced with minimal maintenance, with excellent overall ease of access for on-site staff.

Airaccess is CIAT's solution for multi-use commercial buildings. It is designed to achieve the highest performance, while offering a highly cost-effective solution that out-performs conventional AHUs. A key to improved energy efficiency and performance is a new electronic control system developed by CIAT for use across the range. It enables connection to any building management system to optimise the energy efficiency of each unit by regulating its temperature and humidification / dehumidification levels, and by managing fans, filter fouling levels and water coils. The optional intelligent controller is fully integrated into AHUs, including enclosure, wiring and sensors, and can be easily selected using the bespoke software and tools. A separate packaged plug-and-play version is available as an add-on module.

Energy efficiency was a major design consideration in the development of the range. In addition to the inherent efficiency of the air handling units themselves, this can be augmented by incorporating heat recovery ventilation units. These include rotary heat exchangers with efficiency levels of 75-85 percent, and plate heat exchangers with efficiency levels of between 60-85 percent.  For even higher performance, the new range is compatible with more than 10 different types of filters, available in sizes that limit pressure drops. Jean-Michel Navarro, director of the Culoz Research and Development Centre, said: "Our state-of-the-art facility enables us to reproduce climatic conditions for anywhere in the world, mimicking sun and rain exposure, so we can take account of all factors in our evaluation of designs, components and materials to make the optimum choice."

Tests are also performed on mechanical deformation, airtightness and the effectiveness of insulation of panels. Air flow patterns, volumes and velocities over heat recovery units can also be evaluated, enabling an optimal level of energy efficiency and indoor air quality to be achieved. Completing the control options, CIAT's M2M optional service monitors facilities and equipment around the clock to help customers improve their energy efficiency. It can also improve equipment up-time, optimise performance and provides customers with technical support from CIAT's experts in real time.

David Dunn, general manager and director of CIAT Ozonair and Toshiba Air Conditioning, said: "We are very proud to be able to show these latest developments to people across the UK. The launch of the ClimaCiat range is the culmination of many years and many thousands of man-hours of development work, the fruits of which can be seen today in this comprehensive range of AHUs. We believe they represent the state-of-the-art in this important sector for the UK, and are set to be another winner in the months and years ahead."

For more details please contact your local representative/distributor or email [email protected]