One of the early movers in the Indian bus AC segment is Haiger India Air Conditioning Pvt. Ltd. which sells the Haiger brand of bus air-conditioning systems. Haiger was established in 2004 by Mr. Rishi Pathak with over 17 years of experience in bus air-conditioning.
With more than 4500 AC units sold till December 2012, the company is launching a new technology, eco-friendly AC DC bus air-conditioning system. This development of AC – DC shift is in keeping with the growing trend in countries like Hong Kong. Here the driver has to switch off the bus engine if the vehicle is parked on the road for more than three minutes for passengers to get in and get out of the bus or waiting at the bus stop.
According to Mr. Rishi Pathak, the AC DC unit will positively bring about a revolution in bus air-conditioning. While the bus is in motion, the alternator installed on the vehicle engine will supply 24v to the battery which will charge the other batteries. The 24v DC supply is for the AC unit by which the condenser fan and blower motors start working. The frequency convertor installed in the AC system would convert 24 VDC from the battery to 24v 3 phase 110 Hz (frequency) electricity, which will be supplied to the compressor by which the refrigeration cycle will start functioning.
A similar type of air-conditioner was introduced by Haiger in January last year which was installed in smaller buses. Now the company will be launching the new technology for bigger buses (10.5 m) like Tata 1512 and AL 222 to be displayed at Busworld in February.
This would help the bus AC industry to a large extent, since this kind of buses had until now used a separate engine installed as a power pack which consumed about 3.5 litres of diesel per hour. In some buses, high power engines from Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland are used, in which the AC compressor is driven by the vehicle engine, which would in turn affect the fuel efficiency as the driver will have to keep the engine switched on for air conditioning.
With the introduction of this new AC DC air-conditioning system, the bus owner does not require a separate engine to run the AC system which, in turn, saves a lot of fuel (diesel) and results in pollution-free environment and also for the other practice of installing the AC system with the vehicle engine, will save lot of engine power as there will be no load of the air-conditioner compressor on the vehicle engine, As the AC compressor take about 24 ~ 27 hp from the vehicle engine.
This system will help transform the 10.5 m long AC bus segment as the driver can shift it to the battery mode if the bus is parked. While the bus engine can be switched off, the AC unit will keep running for another 20 ~ 30 minutes. Alternatively, if this AC system is required to be run for a longer duration, the regular 220 volt AC supply from a genset or from the lamppost to the electric stand can be arranged to convert AC to DC. This system will be very use for mobile homes and hospitals, blood collection vans, etc.
Explaining the further features of the AC DC unit, Mr. Rishi Pathak says the system can run on 24 volt DC power supply or 220 volt AC supply by adding a converter. It saves 25 per cent energy, with lower noise compared to the traditional AC system. The AC units come factory gas-charged. As the compressor is mounted inside the AC unit and the refrigeration cycle is shorter, the system needs less refrigerant (R-134a). Only power supply and the wiring harness have to be connected.
Haiger India Air Conditioner Pvt. Ltd. offers bus air-conditioners ranging from 8 kw to 50 kw, which are suitable for application in mini, midi and large buses, ambulances, mobile health units as well as mobile homes. The air-conditioners are designed to meet the critical tropical condition in India.
The company sales network is ably backed by fully equipped service centers across the country. The major service centers are located in Amritsar, Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Agra, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur, Patna, Ranchi, Bhubaneshwar, Cuttack, Kolkata, Guwahati, Siliguri, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nasik, Goa, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Vijaywada, Kochi, Indore and Raipur. The service network is backed by 24×7 Haiger Helpline to ensure easier access to customers at all time.
Haiger will be participating in Busworld in Mumbai in a big way and showcase its range of products.