In the past three years, Automatic Heating, an Australian commercial HVAC distributor, has installed 30 CO2 (R744)-based, 65kW (18.5TR)-capacity air-to-water heat pumps manufactured by Japan-based Itomic in over 10 supermarkets operated by a large Australian food retailer for hot water supply and heating.
The installations have taken place in new stores and as part of existing facility retrofits, replacing direct expansion (DX) systems using heat recovery units or fossil fuel heaters, said Automatic Heating.
The Itomic CHP-80Y2 units used by the Australian food retailer supply up to 90°C (194°F) hot water (150l/min/39.6gal/min) with a COP greater than 4, using 11.3kg (24.9lbs) of CO2, according to the product webpage. With its Y-shaped frame, “the configuration enables installation in limited space availability and structural tolerance,” Itomic says on its website.
“We are honored to be selected by this supermarket in [its] quest to become Australia’s most sustainable supermarket,” said Automatic Heating in a statement.
Asian market
In September of last year, Terry Plaisted, Sales Manager at Automatic Heating, reported installing over 100 Itomic CO2 heat pumps in various commercial and apartment building applications. “Itomic has been a terrific supplier for our requirement to provide outcomes for customers who want to capture heating and hot water by utilizing natural refrigerants,” said Plaisted.
As of February, over 500 Itomic CO2 heat pumps had been installed in South Korea by local distributor HANIL ECO, with over one-fifth of them located in 40 universities. Tests conducted by the installer estimated that the universities saved around 30% in energy costs with the Itomic units over the previous hot water systems, said Koji Morimoto, Overseas Manager at Itomic.
Itomic partnered with Zhejiang DunAn Electro-Mechanical Technology to produce its CHP-80Y2 units in China, with manufacturing beginning in 2020. In 2022, six of the units replaced 14 R22 heat pumps and two gas boilers to provide heating and hot water for the Hailiang Business Hotel in Zhuji, China.
Founded in 1948, Itomic has been producing CO2 heat pumps for over 20 years.
With its Y-shaped frame, “the configuration enables installation in limited space availability and structural tolerance.”
Itomic
