New products

Ecoflair is the new air-conditioning system developed by Uniflair to meet these three requirements in one fell swoop: based on the use of modular components, connected in a flexible manner offering limitless changeable setup options, Ecoflair provides a comfortable environment for each single individual while seeking to create the most energy-efficient conditions.

Demand: individual wellbeing.
Modern buildings generally feature large windowed areas with a high thermal insulation coefficient, and considerable endogenous loads. Situations in which some areas require air cooling whilst others – possibly sharing the same environment – need heating are becoming increasingly common. Moreover, a single environment can have a high concentration of electrical and electronic equipment, a high lighting load and a considerable number of occupants.he exterior in areas along the outer walls of the building can oscillate between plus and minus a number of times in a day – particularly during intermediate seasons – whilst those large windowed areas result in significant external radiant loads. All these factors go to show how essential it is – as much to protect people’s health as to improve their efficiency at work – to create optimal environmental conditions for individual wellbeing in these spaces. The building’s heat inertia no longer plays a positive role. On the contrary, it creates an unsustainable delay in the system’s ability to adapt to the extreme variability of the set heat mode.

Flexibility is a demand.
It is not unusual for workplace space to be rearranged at frequent intervals. Whatever the item of furnishing – from desks to walls, from floors to false ceilings – one of its primary qualities has to be flexibility of use. Moreover, furnishings must accommodate this need for change without incurring unsustainable costs.

Reduced energy consumption.
This requirement can be met by optimizing the operation of all the system’s units in a coordinated manner. This might mean, for instance, transferring heat between areas of the building with different heat load profiles, minimizing heat loss, using modular solutions, integrating indirect energy recovery systems with highly energy-efficient systems.

The Ecoflair solution.
The innovative air-conditioning and distribution system Uniflair has come up with can meet local comfort needs whilst assuring the building total flexibility, without foregoing the undeniable advantage of reducing energy bill outlay.
The Ecoflair solution: individual wellbeing.With the Ecoflair system, each individual user can tailor environmental conditions to meet his/her comfort needs regardless of the conditions chosen by others. Each operator will find him/herself inside a bubble of air that is conditioned to meet his/her chosen specifications. The user is free to choose either cooling or heating at any time with customizable temperature and ventilation levels, creating his/her own microclimate – even in an open-plan space – which may differ from that chosen by the colleague at the next desk.

The Ecoflair solution: flexibility.
The Ecoflair system, a modular solution featuring connections of the plug and play kind, integrates the HVAC system with the access floor, or possibly the false ceiling or walls, offering a cooling and heating solution that suits the architectural needs of the rooms to a T. With no hvac system terminals to plan around, the designer finds drawing the layout of the rooms much easier: with this system, the terminals are actually fitted under the floor or in the false ceiling. Moreover, the system can be installed with one configuration and changed to a new setup at any later date – at no cost and without interrupting service – to accommodate the rearrangement of space in the rooms.

Ecoflair: reduced energy consumption.
With the exclusive Ecoflair control system, all the system’s operating parameters can be measured and processed to define load profiles and the best control strategies, optimizing the system’s energy usage. To maintain thermal equilibrium, i.e. load balancing, traditional hvac systems feature two different systems – one to generate heat and the other for cooling – which often have to run at the same time to cope with different load conditions in various parts of the building, with a negative effect on energy costs. Ecoflair, on the other hand, exploits heat transfer between various interior areas with a different thermal profile to achieve and maintain the climate wanted in the individual zones using as little energy as possible. That way, the system tends to strike an energy balance and only call on the services of the cold and heat production unit – consisting of a single generator for the whole system – for the portions of energy that fail to be balanced within the actual system.

They grant excellent efficiency with partial loads, in fact, with the use of the special slide valve which is in direct contact with the screws, meaning the partially compressed gas is not recycled, but only compressed after the induction volume has been reduced.
Another feature of screw compressors is that the intrinsic Vi compression ratio is constant up to 70% of the load and gradually reduces for loads lower than 70%, as part of the exhaust duct is incorporated in the regulation slide valve. This means the compression ratio is reduced in the compressor, likewise the compression ratio of the entire system reduces as the thermal load reduces.
Continuous regulation of the cooling capacity can also be installed instead of step regulation which, together with the advanced control system, means the temperature of chilled water leaving the unit can be controlled more precisely.
The condenser coils are fitted in “V” formation crossways to the unit with the compressors and to assure the utmost efficiency and reliability. There are four versions available: standard, modulating, low-noise and supersilent.
The basic and modulating versions have a maximum working environment temperature of 45°C and a sound pressure level of 61-67 dB(A) in a free range of 10 meters; the low noise version has a maximum room temperature of 43°C and a sound pressure level of 55-57 dB(A); the supersilent version has a maximum room temperature of 43°C and a sound pressure level of 52-54 dB(A).
The cooling versions of the Aquaflair B.R.A. can be configured for producing chilled water down to a temperature of -10°C and room temperatures down to -20°C.
The units can have a single or double pump fitted (one working and one in stand-by) which gives the user an available net head of app. 150 kPa.
The units can be fitted with desuperheater or total heat recovery.
These units are guaranteed to interface with the most important communications protocols, such as Modbus, bacnet, lonworks, Trend, TCP/IP and snmp, for accurate and simple incorporation in systems run by the more common Building Management Systems.
The new range will be extended to a capacity of 1200 kW at the beginning of next year.

The Ecoflair system, completely different from classic fourpipe systems with simultaneous cold and heat generation, is made up of a handful of modular elements. All parts are interchangeable and can be installed in the void under the access floor or behind the false ceiling. Furthermore, their plug&play-type assembly procedure means they are easy to reposition.
Ecoflair system components
The system’s main components are as follows:
• the water distribution system – consisting of a heating loop and a cooling loop – which puts the hot and cold source at the disposal of all the various zones in the building;
• the Unitile zone terminal units, used for local air treatment (to control air temperature, ventilation and air filtration);
• units, transferring heat from one loop to the other to compensate heat loads of opposite requirement inside the building;
• the energy provider – effectively the generator producing heat and cooling required to cover the portion that has not been balanced, i.e. the amount of heat with a positive or negative sign for the portion not compensated by the transfer of heat between the two loops;
• unit for: fresh air distribution, air treatment and humidity control.
• the main control system for combined management of all the system’s units.
Unitile
This is the terminal responsible for the ventilation and heat treatment of each individual portion of the volume being airconditioned. Connected to the heating loop and cooling loop, the individual Unitile module – which can be installed under the floor or in the false ceiling – features an air/water coil and a fan. Based on the parameters set by the user – temperature and fan speed – which will determine his/her personal workstation microclimate, the module provides warm or cold air at the preferred flow rate. The terminal operates, cooling or heating each individual zone in the room with specific control capacity, thus providing the ideal conditions requested by the individual user.
Heat transfer units
Heat can be transferred from one loop to the other with a normal reverse-cycle unit, whose operation benefits from highly favourable heat levels, both at the condenser and evaporator. The unit maintains the temperature difference between the two loops transferring (pumping) heat/energy from the cooling loop to the heating loop. A single unit can be used to handle all the system’s needs, or it can consist of a number of small units to join the other equipment in the void under the floor or in the ceiling.
Fresh air treatment units
Fresh air is delivered into the rooms to be air-conditioned by means of various independent units serving individual zones or zone groups.The fresh air delivery rate is controlled with sensors, which adjust fan rotation speed.With the cross-flow recovery unit, air introduced can also be pre-cooled in summer and preheated in winter. Optimal recovery is a guaranteed trait of the unit’s operation: the flow of fresh air is initially pre-cooled using expelled air and only then is the condenser used for cooling.
Energy provider
This is the external source providing the amounts of energy that are not balanced inside the building by the transfer of heat between the various zones. It works as a chiller, heat pump, free cooler or water-air heater, depending on operating mode.
Control system
The individual Unitile modules feature a control device located near the user. This device can maintain the conditions set by adjusting the hot and cold water demand and fan speed accordingly. The transfer unit is controlled by monitoring the temperatures of the two loops and producing the necessary action when the temperature difference between them starts to dwindle. Fresh air control is adjusted by monitoring the area of the environment in terms of moisture, carbon dioxide and VOC (Volatile Organic Content). In the end, the whole system is managed by a central device. Based on inside and outside temperatures, the temperature of the loops and quality of the air, the device can minimize the electricity demand, making for considerable energy savings whilst maintaining the highest levels of comfort.