Balázs Zuggó

Managing Director

Daikin Hungary Kft.

We are already experiencing the effects of climate change in our everyday lives. There will be an increasing need for air-conditioning equipment, while the refrigerants used in the equipment for many years have significantly damaged the ozone layer. From September 2015, Daikin will grant free access to 93 patents in order to allow manufacturers to switch to environmentally-friendly, lower GWP R32 refrigerants as soon as possible.

Free access to 93 Daikin patents

Industry: Manufacturing

Date: since 2015

Climate change


Solutions of the macro-sustainability challenges

Shift to low carbon economy by increasing effective energy use and industrial energy efficiency, promoting clean and environmentally friendly technologies and life cycle assessment

Further targets:

What´s the solution?

Daikin is a world leader in the manufacture of air conditioning equipment and refrigerants.

On September 10, 2015, the company released and granted free access to 93 of its patents to encourage industry-leading air-conditioning and heat pump manufacturers to use the new environmentally-friendly R-32 refrigerant in the development of their products.

R-32 is a new generation refrigerant that is, from an environmental protections perspective, much better than its predecessors:

  • it does not damage the ozone layer,
  • its GWP value (effect on global warming) is only one third of the gas type R410A, used in residential climate control
  • due to compressor technology, the amount of charge required for a single unit is lower,
  • it is energy efficient and easier to recycle as well.

The patents do not apply to the R-32 refrigerant itself, as it is available to other refrigerant manufacturers, but to Daikin technologies where the company uses the R-32 refrigerant exclusively in its air conditioning and heat pump equipment.

Business connection

Sharing these technologies with other manufacturers and using them globally will help achieve the most important environmental goals. We believe that in the future, the R-32 refrigerant will appear to be the most promising solution for reducing the ecological footprint of residential and commercial air conditioners and heat pumps.

Several studies have also shown that these activities help to switch to a lower GWP refrigerant, further reduce leakages, and improve refrigeration repair and recycling trends.

Results

A significant number of our competitors have taken over our patents.

In case that all of the current R-410A refrigerants were replaced with R-32, the carbon dioxide emissions generated by the refrigerants could be reduced by up to 24% by 2030.