Hybrid VRF gains vertical flexibility
24th January 2022
UK: Mitsubishi Electric has added a vertical branch controller to offer greater design flexibility of design for its City Multi Hybrid VRF air conditioning system.
First introduced in 2013, the Hybrid VRF combines VRF and chiller technologies. It uses R32 refrigerant between the outdoor condensing unit and an indoor Hybrid Branch Controller (HBC). From here, the intelligent system uses water between the HBC and the individual indoor air conditioning units, yet still offers two-pipe heat recovery.
The Vertical HBC is available as a 6-port main unit, with new compact 8 or 16-port sub HBC options. These make the system a much more viable solution for a wider range of applications. Valves, pumps and the heat exchanger are all contained within the Vertical HBC allowing for phased, modular installation, making the Vertical HBC ideal for Cat A to Cat B applications and easing maintenance regimes.
An overall system can be expanded using additional horizontal sub-HBC’s allowing up to 50 indoor units to be supplied by one outdoor condenser. The Vertical HBC includes intuitive load adjusting flow control valves and inverter driven pumps.
Designed with complete flexibility in mind, the key components of the Vertical HBC’s are accessible from the front and at floor level during commissioning. The installation of additional water-side ancillaries such as expansion vessel, water filling loop and isolation valves are also much simpler as they are all located on the ground floor.
In addition, water piping can be commissioned before the outdoor condensing unit is even installed.
With the noise sensitive components (for example; refrigerant parts, pumps, plate heat exchanger) all tucked into the vertical box, the new compact horizontal sub-HBC can be placed into any occupied space, without the need of any extra attenuation or service space requirements. The flexibility of installation also means the units can be moved and adapted if an office space is reconfigured during its lifetime.
