Key industry trends in HVAC and fluid flow industries

With a clear shift toward automation and digitalization, the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) industry is undergoing changes. Explore the key trends currently at play, both in the India market and in the broader global strategic landscape of the HVAC industry.

- JIJI JOSEPH

With eight manufacturing facilities across four continents and employees around the world, Armstrong Fluid Technology is known as an innovator in the design, engineering and manufacturing of intelligent fluid flow equipment, control solutions, and digital technologies.

In the shift toward digitalization and integration of fluid-flow systems, Armstrong leads the industry, bringing edge computing to mechanical systems, approaching energy optimization as a whole-building challenge, and advancing the practice of full lifecycle management of mechanical systems.

Armstrong's operations in India started in the year 2004, with the sourcing of impellers and mechanical components. The company later expanded is its capabilities to include engineering, manufacturing, customer support, and a network of sales representatives. Today, there are two manufacturing facilities in Bengaluru and more than 300 employees.

In our work over the last 18 months we continue to see some important trends that customers, suppliers, and other participants should be aware of.

• Intelligent variable speed and flow measurement

Where variable speed technology has been available and widely adopted since the early 2000s, in recent years, the HVAC industry has come to see the value of variable speed technology that is capable of modulating the output to meet system demand-moment by moment. But the flow of data required for demand-based variable speed led the industry to include differential pressure sensors in remote locations within piping systems. This added costs throughout the lifecycle of the building, including procurement, installation and maintenance.