ASHRAE Journal - February 2010 - S14

Feature • World’s only AHRI and Eurovent certif ied rotors manufacturer; • Integrated rotor manufacturing facility; • World-class rotor (enthalpy as well as desiccant) test facility; • Sales network spread over India, U.S., Brazil, Europe, UAE, Turkey, Africa, China, Malaysia, Philippines, Japan, Korea and Australia; and • Awarded AHRI certification performance award for achieving a 100% success rate for seven consecutive years. Heat Pumps in Europe Blue Star began exporting drinking water coolers to the Gulf countries in the Middle East as early as 1974. The large stainless steel storage tank design of the coolers was suitable for India and the Gulf countries where city water supply was intermittent. Although local buyers initially resisted buying Blue Star coolers, with improved quality and timely deliveries the company’s sky-blue water coolers became visible at every mosque and school in Dubai and Kuwait. In the early 1990s, Blue Star made large investments in new plant, machinery, technology and R&D for HVAC&R products to handle the growing market within the country. In 1999, the company started exporting ducted air conditioners of up to 7.5 ton (26 kW) capacity, as well as window and split room ACs. A substantial part of these products were specially designed for an American company; prototypes were built and tested in India and the U.S., to suit the needs of the U.S. manufacturer for the Middle East market. Labeled with the U.S. brand name, but with the words “Made in India,” customers no longer hesitated to buy such products. As many as 170,000 unitary products were sold within a few years. Buoyed by this success in the Middle East, the American company decided to enter the European market with its brand and once again chose Blue Star to design ductable heat pumps for this market, using R-407C refrigerant (instead of R-22 in the Middle East) with a sleek appearance, compact footprint, stringent safety and noise requirements. Eleven thousand units have been shipped to Europe. With $500,000 in exports in 1999, today the company has nearly $25 million in exports and ships drinking water coolers, ducted split ACs and heat pumps, and air-handling units, fan coil units, scroll chillers, screw chillers, close control packaged ACs, as well as special units for the telecom market. A large number of distributors and business partners helps the company to cater to the growing market in various neighboring countries. With an increased R&D spending, Blue Star plans to ship more products to the international market. Coolers in Europe plants to cool the diesel engines or gas turbines that drive the electric generators. With scarcity of water and shortage of electric power in most parts of the developing world, International Coil Ltd (ICL) of Delhi has developed ACFCs to cool the jackets of diesel engines or gas turbines running generators in 8 MW power plants or larger capacity with multiples of 8 MW, used by industry to run their plants, instead of cooling towers, which consume large amounts of water. With hundreds of installations of ACFCs in India, millions of cubic meters of water are being saved, proving them to be a good environment-friendly solution. Certified by AHRI, these ACFCs can also be supplied with Heresite coating to reduce corrosion in saline atmospheres. Internationally reputable manufacturers of power plants running on diesel engines or gas turbines including Rolls Royce of England, MAN of Germany, Wartsila of Finland and Cummins of the U.S., have signed OEM agreements with ICL to use ACFCs on their supplies of generators to most parts of the developing world. MEP Contracting in Middle East In the early 1970s, the Middle East embarked on ambitious plans of modernization and building construction. With a small domestic population, the region depended heavily on construction labor from the Indian subcontinent, which is only a few hours away by air. Arab and European companies with offices in the Gulf lured experienced Indian HVAC engineers with salaries three to four times higher than salaries prevailing in India, free company cars, petrol cheaper than water and no income tax. Voltas, being one of the largest HVAC companies, suffered crippling manpower losses that took time to replenish with the help of freshly graduated engineers. In a way, these events turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because Arab employers were so impressed with Indian engineering skills that many of them started doing business with Voltas in joint ventures, which took on large HVAC contracts initially and then went in for complete electro-mechanical projects, including electrical and plumbing. HVAC for Queen Mary II Air-cooled fluid coolers (ACFC) are as the radiator in your car, helping to keep the engine cool, by circulating cooling water through the engine jacket and the radiator. They are larger in cooling capacity and are used in captive power S14 The experience gained from work in the Gulf States and contacts established with international suppliers all over the world of equipment and accessories, including piping, sheet metal, and insulation, led to Voltas’s ambition to take on the world. So, Voltas bid and won contracts in 30 countries and three continents, including the HVAC contract for Hong Kong Airport and the largest luxury liner ever built, Queen Mary II, while it was under construction in a French port. The company is part of the $62.5 billion Tata Group and is the number two air-conditioner brand in the country. The firm manufactured the first room air conditioner in 1954. It has overseas offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Bahrain, Singapore and Hong Kong. February 2010

ASHRAE Journal - February 2010

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