Householders in Germany, France and the UK are trialling NFC-enabled electric radiators that let users configure the daily heat settings on individual appliances with a tap of their mobile phone.

The radiators have been developed by the Europe-based Touch&Heat project in order to enable consumers to reduce their energy consumption and become more energy efficient by making it easier to configure energy-saving features.

“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,” the project says.

“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 user 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.”

Touch&Heat is a collaboration between French NFC technology provider IoTize, French electronic thermostatic control provider Cotherm and German heating appliance manufacturer Lucht LHZ, and aims to “accelerate the development, testing and deployment of new NFC heating products”.

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