Haier

On 2nd of August, Haier Air Conditioner launched its 2017 Cool Year New Product Release Conference under the theme "Let the air understand you better" in Jinan. During the event, Haier announced the completion of its smart air conditioner big data cloud platform that marks the official entry to the smart age of big data. According to the introduction, Haier smart air conditioner is based on smart air ecosystem and has established the most comprehensive big data open platform in the industry with more than 40.7 trillion accumulated data entries of various kinds. The platform specializes in optimizing the air experience for the users. Based on the results of open big data, Haier officially released the world's first smart air conditioner that can deliver "natural wind" applying the smart bionic man technology. Having initiated the "natural wind" revolution in the air conditioner industry, the product brings the times of mechanical ventilating supply to an ultimate end and renders the air supply infinitely close to the most comfortable natural wind that people experience in daily life.

Since its invention, the air ventilation direction and speed of an air conditioner has been controlled by mechanical air supply system for a history of over 100 years. According to some experts, although the speed of air ventilation has been expanded from only one gear to three or even five gears, the fixed speed at each gear results in the delivery of air that still makes people feel uncomfortable. However, wind in the natural world is different and is currently regarded as the most comfortable because it is dynamic and random. Haier Air Conditioner wanted to capture the wind of this kind, and the identification of this need originated precisely from Haier's big data analysis based on user behavior and habits. Through analyzing the data of smart air conditioner users' personalized experience, Haier Air Conditioner completed the transition from big data to technology, and then to the product.

In order to capture natural wind and apply it to the smart air conditioner, Haier's R&D staff walked for 20,000 kilometers to experiment in over 300 natural settings including the early autumn bamboo grove, summer seaside, forests after rain, the Changbai Mountain, etc. From feeling cool to shivering with cold, they collected data on the speed and volume of natural wind and compared it with mechanical wind, and then deduced simulation formula for natural wind based on the application of big data analysis. In addition, Haier jointly developed the smart bionic man with China National Institute of Standardization, which became the basis for massive comfortability experiments and tests. Also, human body activity metabolic rate and other indexes were used to perform big data computation and analysis. These finally gave rise to the smart self-cleaning air conditioner that is capable of blowing "natural wind".

The most distinct feature of natural wind technology is that the orderly mechanical air is transformed into random wind. This particular ventilation method renders the ventilation speed and volume of the air conditioner completely random and non-repetitive, but at the same time most close to the world of nature. At the same time, Haier carried out innovation in the design of the ventilation plate, increasing the number of the plane from 1 to 52, in accordance with the Coanda Effect of natural wind where the fluid jet tends to disperse along the outer surface of objects in wave shape. In this way, the wind is blown out along 52 planes instead of the original 1 plane, thus creating the 3D air supply effect. Currently, the natural wind technology has lodged 5 applications for invention patents and has been used in the new collection of smart self-cleaning air conditioner, from which the outcomes of big data can truly serve the users.

Additionally, Haier also introduced iterative self-cleaning, intelligent linkage and voice, air-balancing sensor, temperature detector, and several other smart technologies that have been developed based upon the smart bionic man, all of which are pioneering in the world. Take the iterative upgrading of self-cleaning air conditioner for example. Not only indoor machines, but also outdoor ones can be cleaned via iterative self-cleaning. With the help of the patented inverse-balance technology, the outdoor machines under high-temperature environments perform self-cleaning through cold expansion, frosting, defrosting, and drastically strip off the dirt inside the machines, thereby bringing power-saving benefits. The double ion sterilization technique developed at the same time, which targets residual dirt and bacteria in the fans and air ducts, has a bactericide rate of as high as 99%. It is learned that Haier smart self-cleaning air conditioner has been widely recognized by the users since its release, and boasted an annual sales volume of over 1 million sets.

The enormous data resources have become an important basis for carrying out product iteration and marketing planning, and have provided at the same time reliable data support for electricity, environment and other industries. This has profound implications on the more in-depth exploration of user values and the facilitation of synergistic development of the industrial chain. The big data of user feedback via smart air conditioners plays an important guiding role in realizing coordinated planning, forecasts, and reasonable management of after-sales services for the air conditioner industry. Haier smart air conditioner once learned from the air quality map on the big data platform about the abnormally high temperature in Xinjiang, and therefore sent 100 air conditioner service staff in advance to provide support. This can be said to be a classic case of Haier's precautionary success based on the big data for air conditioner.

More importantly, big data of Haier smart air conditioner has realized cross-industrial and cross-regional circulation in accordance with the ecological concept of open collaboration for win-win partnership. Based on the premise of secure sharing, the optimal allocation of resources has been achieved and created greater values for the society. For example, the big data platform of Haier smart air conditioner recommends the users to set the cooling temperature at 26℃ based on analysis of peak hours for air conditioner power usage, users' cooling temperature and other indexes of electricity. While creating maximum comfortability, this has also helped to reduce waste of resources with a predicted national power saving of 10 million kilowatts in 2016. Currently, the scope of the data on this open platform has covered 29 countries and regions globally, 443 domestic cities, and 63,483 communities. 40.7 trillion data entries have been accumulated with uploads of data reaching tens of millions per day.

According to the data released on-site from the 2016 Cool Year Market Analysis and Prediction for Industrial Development of Smart Air Conditioner published by the State Information Center, the proportion of domestic market share of smart air conditioner to the total market has been growing at a faster pace. Having become a considerable growth factor for the air conditioner industry, it starts to fundamentally transform the traditional manufacturing model in home appliance. At the same time, competition among the smart air conditioners has concentrated on the top-ranked brands. Thanks to the self-cleaning air conditioner, Haier smart air conditioner has secured absolute advantage in the air conditioner market, as its market share is more than 2 times of that of the 2nd and 3rd players combined. It is precisely because of the sound market foundation that Haier smart air conditioner becomes the first to collect data on user behaviors and conditions on air conditioners across the country with regards to installation, binding, malfunctions, use of functions, air quality and other areas, thus creating the most comprehensive big data platform in the air conditioner industry.

The air conditioner industry will experience the explosion of smart air conditioner in the cool year of 2017. For Haier, in addition to maintaining its intelligence-driven leadership in global market and technological innovation, the full smart strategy implemented by Haier Air Conditioner has also achieved great results as the 6 major smart plans for branding, products, manufacturing, service, globalization, and ecosystem have been rolled out. Haier smart air conditioner has occupied the smart air conditioner market in China of over 60% and been continuously reinforcing its leading position in smart products. The self-cleaning series has become the best-selling smart air conditioner in the market. In its overseas markets, Haier Air Conditioner has also been making steady progress. Sales in the U.S. market for the first half year raised by 20% compared to the same period last year, and in Europe the growth rate reached 30%. In 2016, the increase in overseas market sales was 2 times of the industry average. Haier has undoubtedly become the mainstream choice of users in the international market.