Inside a 19-Story All-Hitachi VRF Installation: CTY Air’s Site Visit to Wuhu, China
In a competitive HVAC market where product claims are everywhere, there’s nothing quite like seeing a completed system operating at scale. That’s exactly what CTY Air experienced on a recent trip to China with Temperzone and Hitachi, a ground-level look at a fully commissioned, 19-story building running an all-Hitachi VRF solution from basement to rooftop.
The Project: A 19-Story All-VRF Building in Wuhu
Wuhu, a rapidly developing city in China’s Anhui Province, was the backdrop for this site visit. The building, a recently completed mid-to-high rise, was specified entirely with Hitachi VRF (Variable Refrigerant Flow) systems throughout all 19 floors. For the CTY Air team, it served as a real-world proof point of what’s possible when a full-building HVAC strategy is built around a single, integrated platform.
The scale of the installation is notable. VRF systems are increasingly the preferred solution for multi-storey commercial and mixed-use buildings, offering zoned control, energy efficiency, and a reduced plant room footprint compared to traditional chiller-based or centralised air handling approaches. Seeing this executed consistently across 19 floors gave the CTY Air team tangible insight into Hitachi’s capability at that level of complexity.
The Indoor Unit Mix: Ducted FCU’s, Cassette FCU’s, and ERV’s
What made this site visit particularly valuable was the variety of indoor unit types deployed across the building. The installation featured a mix of three key product categories.
Hitachi Ducted Fan Coil Units (FCU’s) are concealed within ceiling cavities and connected to ductwork, delivering conditioned air through diffusers across larger open-plan spaces. They offer flexibility in air distribution design and are well-suited to commercial tenancies, lobbies, and corridors where aesthetics and air throw patterns matter.
Hitachi Cassette FCU’s were deployed in areas where ceiling space is more accessible and direct room-level conditioning is required. Four-way cassette units are a practical choice for office floors, meeting rooms, and retail spaces, offering even air distribution with a minimal footprint at ceiling level.
Energy Recovery Ventilator’s (ERV’s) were installed alongside the refrigerant-based cooling and heating components, reflecting a more complete approach to indoor air quality. ERV’s manage the introduction of fresh outdoor air into the conditioned space, recovering energy from the exhaust air stream in the process. In a sealed, multi-storey building environment, this addresses one of the critical challenges of modern commercial construction: maintaining acceptable CO2 levels and fresh air rates without the energy penalty typically associated with untreated outside air.
Why the ERV Integration Matters
From a systems perspective, the combination of VRF indoor units with dedicated energy recovery ventilation is increasingly recognised as best practice for high-occupancy commercial buildings. VRF systems are highly efficient at managing sensible and latent loads within a space, but they operate as recirculation systems by default. Without a dedicated fresh air strategy, CO2 build-up, odour transfer, and occupant comfort issues can undermine the performance of an otherwise well-designed system.
Hitachi’s ERV units are designed to integrate directly within the VRF architecture, allowing centralised control of both the refrigerant circuit and the ventilation strategy. For building managers and facility teams, this translates to a unified control interface and a clearer picture of the building’s total HVAC energy consumption.
What CTY Air Took Away from Wuhu
For CTY Air, this trip reinforced what product specifications and data sheets can only partially convey: that Hitachi’s VRF platform is a genuinely full-building solution. The Wuhu project demonstrated system consistency across different indoor unit types and floor configurations, practical application of ERV technology within a live building context, and the scalability of Hitachi VRF across 19 floors without compromise to system performance or control architecture. The team also gained firsthand exposure to the manufacturing and engineering depth behind the Hitachi brand, seen in the country where these systems are produced.
A Stronger Foundation for Specifying with Confidence
Manufacturer trips like this serve a genuine commercial purpose beyond the hospitality. When CTY Air’s team specifies or recommends a Hitachi VRF system to a developer, contractor, or building owner, they’re drawing on direct, on-site experience with how these systems perform in completed projects. That’s a meaningful difference in a market where product knowledge and technical credibility are hard-won.
If you’re working on a commercial project that requires a VRF solution, whether a single-floor tenancy fit-out or a multi-storey mixed-use development, the CTY Air team is well-placed to advise on system design, product selection, and application. Reach out to discuss your project.
