Japanese OEM Panasonic, a major producer of CO2 (R744) condensing units for food retailers, debuted a 40HP CO2 condensing unit at the Supermarket Trade Show 2022 exhibition, held from February 16-18 in Chiba, Japan.
The new 40HP unit has been released alongside a new 30HP unit and a revamped range of top-flow type 20, 15 and 10HP units according to the company.
The 40HP unit is scheduled to be released to the Japanese market in March. The 30HP unit and the new top-flow units are scheduled to be released in May.
According to the company’s own data, the new models reduce installation costs by about 15% in comparison with the old models in standard medium-sized stores. This is due to a reduced number of piping systems needed. In addition, the new models also achieved energy savings of around 9%.
Panasonic also exhibited its 4HP CO2 condensing unit and an Iarp R290 plug-in showcase at the show. The 4HP CO2 condensing unit, however, is still only available in Europe.
Panasonic has supplied CO2 condensing units to Japanese convenience store retailer Lawson in substantial numbers. (Lawson has installed CO2 condensing units in more than 4,000 stores.) Panasonic’s CO2 condensing units are used mostly in convenience stores and supermarkets. The company has only recently developed a new 80HP transcritical CO2 rack system aimed at industrial applications. It shipped its first unit to a Japanese cold storage warehouse operator in November 2020.
