Hitachi Appliances Inc announced six air conditioners including "RAS-X40X2," which moisturizes human skin.
It condenses moisture in the air with a Peltier device and applies high voltage to the water to produce electrically-charged minute water particles. The particles attach to the skin and, with moisture in the air attracted by the electric charge, soak into it.
This function enables to maintain the moisture content of the skin 20% more, on average, than the normal air heating of the air conditioner, the company said.
Hitachi Appliances equipped a similar water-particle generation mechanism with the previous model of the air conditioner for deodorization. This time, the company realized the function to maintain skin's moisture level by approximately tripling the amount of water particles.
To increase the amount of water particles, the company (1) enhanced the efficiency of collecting water by putting a water-shedding finish on the tube that collects water cooled by the Peltier device and (2) increased the number of pins that generate water particles. The new air conditioner can remove the odor from the air like its previous model.
The seasonal power consumption and APF (annual performance factor) of the RAS-X40X2, a model for a 14-mat (23.19m2) room (cooling capacity: 4kWh), are 1,293kWh and 6.2, respectively, which indicate a high energy-saving capability. Hitachi Appliances improved the motor, inverter and heat exchanger to increase the APF to 5.8 when it developed the lower-tier models including "RAS-S40X2," which was announced as one of the "S series" in October 2007.
This time, the company further improved the APF by enlarging the heat exchanger's surface area by 18% for the indoor equipment and 9% for the outdoor equipment. The company (1) enlarged the width of the indoor equipment from 798mm to 875mm, (2) changed the position of the heat exchangers and (3) downsized the machine part of the outdoor equipment by shortening the compressor's piping and enlarging the heat exchanger instead.
The prices of the six air conditioners are open, but Hitachi Appliances assumes that the retail price of the RAS-X40X2 will be about ¥298,000 (US$2,788). The company plans to start releasing them from the beginning of March 2008.
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