Feature
In the life sciences and health care industry, ways to create new values that match the needs of our age are being explored as a result of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, societal conditions, and advances in information and communications technology (ICT). This is an industry where innovations are constantly being sought, and the Mitsubishi Group continues to offer avenues leading to a healthier and happier life.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Brain Sciences Show Comfort Level Varies with AC Airflow Direction
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Thermal Systems, a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group company, and a group led by Tsuyoshi Okamoto, associate professor at Kyushu University’s Faculty of Arts and Science, have shown that the airflow direction of an air conditioner affects not only the thermal environment around people in a room but also the subjective assessment and psychological as well as physiological measurements of those in the room from a brain sciences perspective. Physiological measurements indicated higher comfort levels in an indirect airflow due to a reduction of the strength in the beta and gamma brain waves that indicate stress levels, while stress-indicating brain waves were detected in a direct airflow. The study’s results were published on April 14, 2021, in the PLOS ONE online peer-review magazine.
Left: The FDT in-ceiling indoor unit with four vents.
Right: The compact FDTC in-ceiling indoor unit with four vents.
Both employ the AirFlex draft prevention panel, an industry first. The panel houses airflow direction control plates operated using a remote control.Controlling each vent individually makes it possible to create an air-conditioned environment that suits the user’s preference at any particular time.
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