Touch&Heat Field Tests NFC Electric Radiators with TapNLink NFC

Touch&Heat NFC Radiators from Lucht LHZ and Cotherm

New NFC-enabled radiators from Touch&Heat collaboration will improve ease of use and energy savings in first EU field tests.

Burgstädt, Germany, February 02, 2022 -- Today, Touch&Heat announced the field test phase of their "NFC-radiator project." With the support of DigiFed for European funding, the project is accelerating the deployment of new electric heating products that improve energy efficiency by using Near Field Communication (NFC) and mobile apps to make the configuration of energy saving features easier and more efficient. In this field-testing stage, the first European consumers are trying the new NFC functionality in Germany, France and the United Kingdom. According to the French ADEME (l’Agence de la Transition Ecologique), fully equipping households with programmable radiators can reduce annual energy consumption of by up to 15% -- an important contribution to meeting EU sustainability objectives.

The new NFC products allow installers and owners to connect a mobile phone automatically and securely to a specific radiator with an intuitive tapping gesture, and without entering access codes. Users configure the daily heating schedule and other features in the app. The new configuration is transmitted by NFC with a second tapping gesture. The same configuration can be rapidly and efficiently applied to several radiators with the same tap gesture. Using the mobile app improves users understanding of programmable settings and eliminates the need for printed user manuals. Installations are simplified by the no-pairing communication at close proximity. This also eliminates the need to create accounts or enter codes while still ensuring confidentiality of product settings and reducing opportunities for hacking.

Previous generations of electric radiators either lacked programmable controls or relied on LCD screens and push button controls. EU sustainability requirements no longer allow the sale of non-programmable heating products. Products that used LCD/push button controls proved to be inefficient and complicated for both installers and consumers. As a result, fewer than 20% of owners programmed their heating products, in spite of the potential for energy savings.

The Touch&Heat project is a collaboration of three European companies with complementary expertise that encompass the complete chain of product development from innovation to manufacturing:

  • Lucht LHZ Elektroheizungen – a German designer and manufacturer of heating appliances.
  • Cotherm SAS – a French SME designing electronic thermostatic controls.
  • IoTize SAS – a French start up designing wireless and NFC solutions for connecting appliances to mobiles and networks.

The project is supported by DigiFed for European funding that has helped the project partners accelerate the development, testing and deployment of the new NFC heating products. For more information about DigiFed, visit https://digifed.org/.

About Lucht LHZ

Lucht LHZ (www.lucht-lhz.de) is a manufacturer and distributer of electric heating systems with over 30 years of experience. It produces and sells electric heating systems under its own name and as an OEM partner for international customers. The product range includes surface storage heaters, night storage heaters, direct heaters, convectors, infrared heaters and bathroom heaters. The Lucht LHZ electric heaters produced in Burgstädt, the headquarter of the company, and Hartmannsdorf proudly bear the “Made in Germany” seal of approval, which stands for the outstanding quality of these products.

Lucht LHZ is an innovative, medium-sized family company in the field of future-oriented electric room heating technology. The products are manufactured on modern production machines and with very well qualified employees to meet all of the national and international requirements for modern heating systems. Lucht LHZ is internationally successful and supplies hundreds of specialist dealers in more than 30 countries worldwide.

Press Contact:
Rafael Frommhold
Project & E-Commerce Manager
r.frommhold[at]lucht-lhz.de
+49 3724 66869 19

About Cotherm

Cotherm (www.cotherm.com) is a French company with expertise in design and production of thermal control solutions for equipment manufacturers and distributors in a large range of sectors such as heating, ventilation, food service, industrial equipment, pool & spa or energy management.

With an international presence and a strong culture of partnership, Cotherm supports its customer with success for present and future needs for products offering comfort, performance, safety, energy savings that reduce environmental impact. Thanks to platform solutions with different levels of customization, Cotherm reduces time-to-market product introduction with optimized investment.

As a subsidiary of an international group, Cotherm has the ambition to accelerate its growth through synergies, innovations, services and industrial excellence.

Press Contact:
Alain Maillard Marketing Director
a.maillard[at]cotherm.com
+33 4 76 36 36 70

About IoTize SAS

IoTize (www.iotize.com) is a French start-up based near Grenoble France, a European hub for micro and nanotechnologies. IoTize designs and manufactures a range of wireless connectivity solutions (NFC, Bluetooth, WiFi, LoRa, etc.) for microcontroller-based embedded systems (TapNLink) and systems implementing any industry-standard serial fieldbus (TapNPass, Tapioca). All IoTize solutions are designed for plug'n play integration with electronics and mobile, thus reducing time-to-market and risks associated with migrating products to the IoT.

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Contacts

Steve Gussenhoven
Communications and Marketing
steve.gussenhoven[at]iotize.com
+33 (0)6 62 78 09 66