At the 2021 Guangzhou Design Week, Dongpeng and the famous pioneering architectural designer Chen Xuan jointly built a mobile art museum with the theme of "Time Loop", which became an Internet celebrity check-in point at the exhibition. During the period, the new inorganic decorative material "Dongpeng Ecological Stone" exhibited by Dongpeng was eye-catching, marking a solid step on the road to sustainable development and also having important significance for the development of the industry.
Of course, in addition to the "Dongpeng Ecological Stone" that attracted the attention of many visitors, another product launched by Dongpeng at the exhibition also aroused interest. This product is the exclusive core patented product "Graphene Smart Warming Slate" carefully developed by Dongpeng. On that day, when Zhongtaojun passed by Dongpeng's exhibition hall during the 2021 Guangzhou Design Week, he was attracted by this product displayed on the exterior wall - because there was a clear warm current in the air around it.
The combination of "black gold" and ceramics
For the construction and ceramics industry, graphene is no longer a novelty. As early as May 2019, there were more than 10 companies claiming to launch graphene heating tiles, and there were also cases of cross-border entry. At this year's Foshan Tanzhou Ceramics Exhibition and Central China Architectural Ceramics Spring Boutique Collection, graphene smart heating tiles appeared. At that time, many companies in ceramics, wood flooring, wallpaper, stone and other industries were exploring graphene wood flooring, graphene marble and other floor heating products. It can be said that graphene led the product upgrade of the general home furnishing industry at that time. Overnight, graphene exploded in all walks of life and was dubbed the "King of New Materials," "Black Gold," and "The Greatest Discovery of the 21st Century."
In 2019, an article published in the 11th issue of "Foshan Ceramics" proposed a draft of a graphene home product: Smart Warm Ceramic Tabletop. From top to bottom, this ceramic tabletop consists of a ceramic rock plate facing layer, a graphene heating layer, a double aluminum PVC board insulation layer, a supporting layer, and a chassis. The structure is as shown in the figure:
1-Facing layer; 2-Heating layer; 3-Insulation layer; 4-Lead hole; 5-Lead; 6-Support layer; 7-Chassis
At the 35th Foshan Ceramics Expo in October 2020, graphene ceramic tile products became a hot topic at the Ceramics Expo, attracting the attention of many exhibitors and visitors. Later, graphene heating ceramic tiles and rock slabs once became representatives of functional ceramic tiles and were sought after by many ceramic companies.
On October 23 of the same year, New Pearl Group won the second place in the concept design group of the 10th "Governor's Cup" CMF special competition with its concept products of smart graphene slate heating dining table and smart graphene slate heating multifunctional wardrobe. , third prize. In fact, it is not surprising that New Pearl Group has such achievements in the research and development of graphene. Long before graphene became “hot”, New Pearl Group had already noticed this material. In 2018, Kangene Pearl, a subsidiary of New Pearl Group that focuses on graphene products, was established. In July this year (2021), the Kangen Pearl Graphene Production Base was officially unveiled; at the same time, the New Pearl Group and the Energy Saving Technology Institute of the Chinese Academy of Management Sciences formed a strategy on the research and development, production, and application of graphene and building energy-saving ceramics. alliance.
Compared to Xinmingzhu, Dongpeng is a little low-key but vigorous in graphene research and development. In August this year, Dongpeng invested in Guangdong Yuanxi New Material Technology Co., Ltd., and after obtaining the exclusive license authorization for graphene heating ceramic technology, it planned to industrialize and bring graphene warm porcelain rock plate products to the market; shortly afterwards, Graphene smart heating stone panels were launched at the 2021 Guangzhou Design Week held in December.
Close to life and more practical
Dongpeng’s graphene smart heating slate is far from the earliest graphene product in the ceramics industry, so why did it attract so much attention at Guangzhou Design Week?
Because it can be implemented and is close to people's actual lives, it solves the difficulties faced by graphene heating tiles in terminal promotion in the past: trial and error costs and safety issues.
Graphene heating tiles and other heating tiles face only a few problems at the terminal: First, safety issues, graphene needs to be powered, and it is difficult to spread it on the ground without worrying that it has certain safety hazards; The second is service issues, mainly construction and after-sales; the third is operational issues, and the related cold press is difficult to operate. The latter two are easy to say, but the safety issue is a difficulty, no matter how much we promote graphene productsNo matter how safe it is, it is still difficult to eliminate consumers' safety concerns.
In Zhongtao Jun’s opinion, since the safety problem of floor tiles is difficult to solve, then change your thinking and solve the “people” who raised the problem: abandon graphene floor tiles and use wall protection rock panels, that is, graphene smart heating rock panels . At least there is no need to consider the problem of leakage of the wall slabs that do not require much cleaning, so most people have much less concerns about safety. As for other issues, I believe that Dongpeng, as a listed company, will be familiar with them and will be able to properly resolve them.
Reducing consumers' concerns about safety issues is the first step that must be taken in the development of graphene heating tiles, and the second step is to reduce the cost of trial and error and expand the "basic base."
At the terminal level, graphene floor tile products are far less attractive than graphene furniture products. The reason behind this phenomenon is very simple. The cost of trial and error for floor tiles is too high and most consumers cannot afford it. Ceramic tiles need to be purchased and laid over a large area, and their material costs and labor costs are more expensive than household products. Therefore, even if consumers are willing, they are still unable to afford them. In addition, there are constant fakes of graphene heating tiles on the market, and heating wires are used to pass off as graphene. Consumers do not have the ability to distinguish between genuine and fake graphene floor tiles, and coupled with the high cost of trial and error, they naturally stay away from graphene porcelain floor tiles.
Although the unit price of graphene smart warm rock panels is much higher than that of heating floor tiles (after all, rock panels are not cheap, and graphene is not cheap either), but the wall rock panels can be pasted with only one or a few pieces, and the ceramic tiles can be pasted with just one One piece or several pieces? The advantage in quantity is enough for the graphene smart heating slate board to reduce the cost, and with the terminal promotion part to solve the safety problem, more people are willing to try it, and the basic base will be expanded. In addition, the graphene smart heating slate board coincides with the smart home system that will be widely popular in the future. It also has selling points to promote and will attract some audiences.
To sum up, Dongpeng’s launch of graphene smart heating rock panels can be said to be close to life and more practical.
Small but beautiful positioning?
Although the graphene intelligent heating slate is a very good product among the graphene heating tiles, Zhongtaojun still has to find fault with it: Is heating and heating really what users need?
A product must solve the needs of users, which leads to the first problem, that is, market problems. Graphene heating tiles mainly have heating function, but this function mainlyThere is still a market in the southern region, and judging from market feedback, this is indeed the case. Kangxi Mingzhu's business mainly comes from the south, while in the north there is only a small amount of business in some marginal towns. Borrowing the views of some industry insiders: It is difficult to convince people that a product that cannot be used nationwide has great market potential.
The second question is the cost-effectiveness of graphene. The first is the electricity bill. Someone has done some calculations. Based on a 100 square meter house, if it is floor tiles, the heating bill will be around 400 yuan/month. The wall slate can be less, but the air conditioner will be around 300 yuan/month. The second is the length of use. Air conditioners can be used all year round. Can graphene be used? The third is the problem of hardware matching. If graphene is to be adopted on a large scale. For example, for a building or a community, it is necessary to consider whether the load of the incoming wires can meet the demand. If the entrance wire cannot meet the needs, it must be changed or installed in other ways. The power of Dongpeng’s graphene smart heating slate board is 550W, and the power of Kangxi Mingzhu’s graphene products is 180W. If the customer’s house is an old and renovated house, can its aging circuits carry graphene heating tiles? Power is also a concern.
The third question goes back to the product itself. Compared with traditional heating methods, graphene heating tiles have significant advantages, but the disadvantages of other heating methods are not irreparable. Faced with a solvable problem, why choose a costly and cumbersome solution? This is somewhat unnecessary.
……
In view of the above problems, many people in the industry believe that graphene heating tiles themselves are somewhat out of touch with the masses. An industry insider told Zhongtaojun, "Rather than saying they are functional ceramic tiles for heating, I prefer to call them 'face-saving' functional ceramic tiles, and as a niche, high-end 'pretend' product. 'Although there is a certain market demand, for the general public, it is tasteless and it is a pity to discard it."
Zhongtaojun believes that as a functional ceramic tile, it is necessary to go deep into the masses and understand the real needs of consumers. For example, when moving things, can the harsh sound of friction on the floor be reduced? Can the structure of the tiles be optimized to achieve a silent effect... Aren't these functions more practical than heating? More marketable?
But having said that, after all, graphene heating tiles have great advantages in performance, have gimmicks, and are "powerful". If the problems mentioned above can be passed on to the marketEducation is combined with technological upgrading to solve the problem, thereby achieving the effect of generally lowering prices and eliminating consumer concerns. Its market prospects are still very promising.
(Author: No)
