Delhi, Apr 27: Optimist, a next-generation air-conditioning company, recently announced its technical collaboration with IIT Delhi, facilitated by the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT), IIT Delhi. The engagement has been active for over 18 months with Prof. Anurag Goyal in the Department of Mechanical Engineering as a technical advisor to the company. In addition, several students from Prof. Goyal’s research group have contributed to joint product development, strengthening the collaboration.
“The combination of India’s heat (50°C) and its demographics (low per capita GDP and high density) is a hard problem. The technical expertise of IIT Delhi’s researchers and their understanding of Indian conditions have been pivotal to our R&D. The quality of talent of professors and students alike is a blessing. We expect this to be a decadal partnership,” said Pranav Chopra, Co-Founder and CTO, Optimist.
The depth of engineering involvement sets this industry-academia partnership apart. The areas of collaboration include development of simulation tools for HVAC systems, digital twins, heat exchanger design, and system validation under high ambient conditions.
The outcome of this work is already visible. Optimist’s AC has been validated in pilot testing to deliver the required cooling capacity at ambient temperatures up to 50°C, while ensuring stellar energy efficiency. This is a direct result of the engineering rigour introduced in the collaboration.
“India’s climate places unique demands on cooling systems, particularly at higher ambient temperatures. The work with Optimist has involved rigorous simulation and thermal analyses, leading to the current pilot of the ultra high-efficiency air conditioner for the Indian market. This engagement underscores the impact of industry-academia collaboration and our joint capabilities to solve some of the toughest engineering challenges,” said Prof. Anurag Goyal, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Delhi.
Founded in 2024 by Ashish Goel and Pranav Chopra, Optimist recently raised $12 million to scale manufacturing, strengthen R&D, expand its service network, and accelerate development of its AI-enabled cooling platform.
Optimist is currently performing pilot testing, and is planning a product launch in the coming weeks. The collaboration with IIT Delhi will continue as a core part of its engineering and product development.
