A compact, powerful Digital Variable Multi (DVM) air conditioning system from Samsung is providing highly efficient cooling and heating in newly refurbished bedrooms at a country house hotel near Stratford upon Avon. The 20hp heat pump system drives 24 slim one-way cassettes in the Charlecote Pheasant Hotel’s contemporary Barford bedrooms. DVM is Samsung’s development of the Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) principle, using new technology to deliver superior performance and efficiency. 

Conveniently located for Stratford, Warwick, Leamington Spa, Birmingham and the Cotswolds, the hotel (which is part of the Folio Hotels group) is popular with business and leisure travellers. It has 72 bedrooms, including character-filled rooms in the Farmhouse and the newly refurbished and air conditioned Barford bedrooms. Nine meeting rooms offer conference facilities for up to 170 delegates. 

The Samsung solution includes the two 10hp outdoor units which produce 56kW of cooling or 63kW of heating – enough to allow all 24 indoor units to deliver their full 2.2kW of cooling or 2.5kW of heating. The outdoor units feature the DVM system’s standard digital scroll compressors for enhanced efficiency across a wider operating range than typical VRF systems. The slim and lightweight one-way cassette used indoors is ideal for buildings with small ceiling voids. Its crossflow fan moves 6m3/minute (cooling) and 7m3/minute (heating) quietly reaching no more than 30db(A) at full speed. The system is controlled centrally through Samsung’s PC-based S-NET 2 system, which monitors and controls indoor units in any number of rooms from 1 to 256. 

Paul Wilkins, Samsung Air Conditioning’s sales manager, says: “With DVM, Samsung has produced a next generation system for the VRF market – and it is a system that installers and users cannot afford to overlook. For the engineer, DVM systems are a pleasure to install and maintain and they have the potential to deliver significant economic benefits in use.”

Samsung’s evolving DVM range now boasts some of the highest performance and efficiency ratings and technology refinements to support extended pipe runs and an industry-leading maximum system capacity of 64hp with four 16hp outdoor units supporting up to 64 indoor units. The latest DVM Plus III range boasts digital vapour injection and turbo intercoolers to enhance performance, and incorporates internal and external design improvements. The range is available in heat pump (2 pipe) and heat recovery (3 pipe) versions, giving system designers maximum flexibility in delivering air conditioning solutions.