Brett Hondow/Shutterstock Daikin may not be the first name that comes to mind when the average American thinks about air conditioners. This is natural, given that U.S. consumers are generally more familiar with brands such as Carrier, Trane, Lennox, LG, and Rheem. What many Americans do not realize, however, is that Daikin is one of the world's largest air-conditioning manufacturers. In fact, it owns the American HVAC brands Goodman and Amana. Originally founded in Japan well over 100 years ago by Akira Yamada, a young Japanese engineer, Daikin initially went by the name Osaka Kinzoku Kogyosho Ltd, and was originally involved…