Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most promising — and exciting — technologies to come to the HVACR industry in a long time, and manufacturers are wasting no time in researching how it can be incorporated into their equipment. What makes AI so exciting is that it has benefits for virtually everyone, from the OEM to the contractor to the end user to the building occupant.
For OEMs, an AI-enabled rooftop unit or chiller could allow the collection of massive amounts of real-time data that could be used to improve the design of a product or optimize its operation. For contractors, AI predictive modeling could foresee when a breakdown may occur, giving them time to fix the problem before it results in downtime. And the repair would be faster because the system would likely be able to diagnose itself.