MHI to Tie Up with NIBE Industrier AB of Sweden

Targeting the residential heating and hot-water supply market in western and northern Europe, MHI will newly enter this market with a system that utilizes hot water and features the company’s energy-saving heat-pump technology. As a heat-pump type system can achieve three times higher energy efficiency than conventional electrical boiler type systems, and also offers advantages in environmental aspects such as contributing to prevention of global warming, the market for heat-pump type units is expanding rapidly, further spurred by tax benefits implemented in many countries for use of such units. In addition, as reductions in running costs, beneficial for consumers, can be expected, heat-pump units also have potential in terms of replacement demand.

NIBE Industrier AB is headquartered in Markaryd, Småland province in southern Sweden. The company markets heating equipment ranging from hot-water floor-heating systems using fuels and heat pumps, and radiator type air-conditioning/hot-water supply systems, to traditional wood stoves. It is one of the largest heating equipment manufacturers in northern Europe and has a vast sales network in the region.

Based on the tie-up agreement, MHI and NIBE will jointly develop air-conditioning/hot-water supply products by pooling their respective technologies: MHI's high-performance inverter type heat-pump technology and NIBE's technologies applied to hot-water storage tanks and hot/chilled water circulation. The two companies will also market their products under their own brand names through their respective sales networks.

The air-conditioning/hot-water supply system to be developed will consist of an outdoor unit plus a heat-exchanger unit incorporating a heat storage tank. The system will be capable of supplying hot water for showering and other sanitary uses, and of circulating hot/chilled water for heating/cooling. One feature of the new product will be integration of the heat exchanger device and heat storage tank into one unit, to achieve reduced installation space and easy installation.

For hot-water supply, the new product will adopt a method that utilizes direct pressure from water pipes and can cope with various sterilization temperature settings according to the requirements of each country. Equipped with a large-capacity auxiliary electric heater as standard equipment for back-up, the system will be able to cope with irregular excessive use of hot water.

Initially, the two companies will introduce one representative model. They will subsequently expand the product line by adding models. Along with this business expansion initiative in Europe, MHI intends to enhance production capacity at Thai Compressor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (THACOM), its rotary compressor manufacturing subsidiary in Thailand. The rotary compressor is a component of the products to be developed with NIBE.