To facilitate the adoption of HFC-32 refrigerant, Daikin Industries Ltd. has added free access to 123 new patents in relation to certain HVAC-R (heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration) appliances using single component unmixed refrigerant HFC-32 (R-32).

About 300 patents now do not require authorization or a written contract with Daikin. This will of course facilitate the further adoption of HFC-32, which has a lower impact on global warming than many refrigerants commonly used today.

Daikin believes that HFC-32 is a suitable refrigerant to reduce the environmental impact in many regions.

To encourage the use of HFC-32 globally, Daikin offered free access to 93 patents for emerging countries in 2011 and then expanded this free access worldwide in 2015. 

In July 2019, the company announced that it was providing free access to promised patents that were filed after 2011 and were not included in the previous free access. 

Daikin intends to further facilitate the adoption of equipment with HFC-32 from other manufacturers, allowing free access to its intellectual property. As a result, many manufacturers are already offering HFC-32 equipment, and more than 140 million residential and commercial HFC-32 units have been sold in around 100 countries.

For more info from the Company’s original press release, click here.