{"id":1072,"date":"2026-05-06T11:36:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T11:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/heatpumpingtechnologies.org\/project67\/?page_id=1072"},"modified":"2026-05-06T11:39:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T11:39:15","slug":"belgium","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/heatpumpingtechnologies.org\/project67\/participants\/belgium\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgium"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \"><strong>National team:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>KU Leuven<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>EMEA Development Center (EDC), Daikin Europe<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \"><strong>Research work on institutional level with focus on heat pumps and digitalization:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \"><strong>KU Leuven<\/strong> boasts a rich tradition of education and research that dates back six centuries and received the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kuleuven.be\/personeel\/jobsite\/en\/working-at-kuleuven\/hr-excellence-in-research-ku-leuven\"><\/a>European HR Excellence in Research Award based on its current policy and a comprehensive<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kuleuven.be\/english\/kuleuven\"> action plan<\/a>. In the 2025 rankings, KU Leuven has achieved a global rank of 43rd out of a total of 2,092 universities worldwide. Within Belgium, KU Leuven continues to hold its position as the number one university in the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \">In this project, the<strong> Flexible Heat Pumps &amp; Cooling System<\/strong> research group (in short: <a href=\"https:\/\/iiw.kuleuven.be\/onderzoek\/fhpcool\">FHP&amp;Cool)<\/a>  will contribute. The group is linked to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mech.kuleuven.be\/en\/\">KUL Mechanical Engineering Department<\/a> and <a href=\"(https:\/energyville.be\/en\">Energyville<\/a>. FHP&amp;Cool has expertise in advanced thermodynamic analysis, optimal design and control of heat pumps and refrigeration systems, energy flexibility exploitation of electric heating and cooling systems. The group main aim is to develop and improve heating and cooling systems to integrate renewable energy sources, support the smart grid implementation and the decarbonization of the energy system.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \">The research group is involved in several IEA HPT Projects. One of the main relevant projects contributing to Project 67, is about the digitalization of residential heat pumps, where several interfaces and control options have been tested and compared in terms of smart grid readiness. Testing procedures in laboratory have been developed for assessing heat pumps energy flexibility services. Improvements of the communication with energy management system are under development. Furthermore. innovative predictive on-board controls are proposed in new projects with focus on industrial applications.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \">The <strong>EMEA Development Center<\/strong> (in short: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.daikin.eu\/en_us\/about\/daikin-innovations\/emea-development-center.html\">EDC<\/a>) is Daikin Europe\u2019s central hub for research and development of HVAC-R technologies tailored for the European, Middle Eastern, and African (EMEA) markets. EDC operates from its main sites in Ostend and Ghent (Belgium), supported by affiliated R&amp;D locations in Germany, Czech Republic, Turkey, and Italy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \">EDC\u2019s core mission is to lead innovation in heating, cooling, ventilation, and refrigeration, developing next\u2011generation, low\u2011carbon heat pump and climate-control technologies that meet evolving environmental and regulatory demands.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \">EDC provides the following main services:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Develops products from EMEA for EMEA, including Residential Heat Pumps, VRV systems, Air-Conditioning and Cold\u2011Chain Solutions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Designs and develops controllers, embedded software, IoT functionalities, and cloud services to support the product ecosystem.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Performs advanced research, prototyping, testing, validation, and compliance work to ensure high performance and reliability of Daikin systems across all climates.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \">State\u2011of\u2011the\u2011art testing labs and high\u2011tech infrastructure is enabling EDC to:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Test energy efficiency, reliability, and real\u2011life operation of HVAC\u2011R systems<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Support Daikin\u2019s commitment to sustainability and CO\u2082\u2011neutral technologies<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Integrate innovative solutions such as R290 refrigerant systems in heat pumps and CO<sub>2 <\/sub>refrigerant systems in VRV setups.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \">EDC spans multiple specialized sites across Europe, each focusing on specific product categories such as residential and commercial heat pumps, refrigeration and cold-chain systems, components manufacturing (compressors, accumulators, etc.) as well as controllers and electronics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \"><strong>Weblinks to institutes involved in this HPT project, relevant research projects and\/or infrastructure:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \">KU Leuven, Flexible Heat Pumps &amp; Cooling System, <a href=\"https:\/\/iiw.kuleuven.be\/onderzoek\/fhpcool\">https:\/\/iiw.kuleuven.be\/onderzoek\/fhpcool<\/a><br>EMEA Development Center, Daikin Europe, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.daikin.eu\/en_us\/about\/daikin-innovations\/emea-development-center.html\">https:\/\/www.daikin.eu\/en_us\/about\/daikin-innovations\/emea-development-center.html<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \"><strong>Main contacts<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \"><strong>KU Leuven, Flexible Heat Pumps &amp; Cooling System<\/strong><br>Alessia Arteconi, email: <a href=\"mailto:alessia.arteconi@kuleuven.be\">alessia.arteconi@kuleuven.be<\/a><br>Associate professor&nbsp;at the Faculty of Engineering Technology<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"container container--no-margin\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \"><strong>EMEA Development Center<\/strong><br>Marc Schreurs, email: <a href=\"mailto:scheurs.m@daikineurope.com\">scheurs.m@daikineurope.com<\/a><br>Research &amp; Innovation Manager at EDC<br><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>National team: Research work on institutional level with focus on heat pumps and digitalization: KU Leuven boasts a rich tradition&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":0,"parent":816,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"1024","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1072","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/heatpumpingtechnologies.org\/project67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/heatpumpingtechnologies.org\/project67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/heatpumpingtechnologies.org\/project67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heatpumpingtechnologies.org\/project67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heatpumpingtechnologies.org\/project67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1072"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/heatpumpingtechnologies.org\/project67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1106,"href":"https:\/\/heatpumpingtechnologies.org\/project67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1072\/revisions\/1106"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heatpumpingtechnologies.org\/project67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/heatpumpingtechnologies.org\/project67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}