AIRAH’s Refrigeration 2019 conference

AIRAH has announced a compelling list of speakers for the Refrigeration 2019 conference, which will take place over March 25–26 in Melbourne.
Headlining the event are four international keynote speakers:Germany’s Professor Dr Michael Kauffeld, the Netherlands’ Jan Gerritsen, and Iain Campbell and Andrew Pansulla from the US.They are at the top of a list of 25 expert speakers delivering presentations across the two days, which will also include two special sessions.

“AIRAH is thrilled to be able to offer a comprehensive program for Refrigeration 2019,” says AIRAH CEO Tony Gleeson, M.AIRAH. “We are poised at a critical moment in HVAC&R, and perhaps especially in refrigeration. Consider that we are in the midst of the global HFC phase-down, and the attendant challenges that accompany this.

“Meanwhile, global initiative Project Drawdown has identified refrigeration management as its no.1 tool for mitigating climate change. And this is at a time when 2018 was the fourth hottest year on record. So just when it’s needed, Refrigeration 2019 will include engaging sessions reviewing the latest developments in legislation, technologies, and industry-specific case studies.”

Since 2002, Kauffeld has been a professor for refrigeration at the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, where he continues his research with natural refrigerants, mini-channel heat exchangers and ice slurry. He serves on the UNEP Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps Technical Options Committee, and served on the UNEP TEAP Task Force on Global Warming.

Hailing from Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Institute, Campbell will discuss the Global Cooling Prize, an initiative aimed at unearthing a more efficient air conditioning solution. Launched last November, the prize is open to entries from around the world. Ittasksdesigners with inventing a room air conditioner for a typical tropical or sub-tropical home that consumes five times less grid-supplied electricity, per unit of cooling, than a typical unit in operation today. A total of US$ 3 million in prize money is on offer.

Pansulla is the global technical service engineer for Chemours Refrigerants. Over the past five years with Chemours/DuPont, he has worked on several different projects around refrigerant development.

Gerritsen will provide a transparent review of mid-sized CO2 refrigeration systems.

Other speakers at Refrigeration 2019 will address issues as diverse as HFC-free supermarkets, recent developments in desiccant technology, indirect evaporative air cooling, using data variation in testing refrigeration system performance, central NH3 refrigeration systems with dry expansion, and fire engineering in refrigerated cold storage occupancies.

In addition to the presentations by expert speakers, the conference will include two extra group activities. One will be a contractors’ panel session, the other a refrigerated warehouse case study and workshop.

“Our conference committee has worked really hard to deliver a program that is right for the times,” says AIRAH’s professional development manager Brendan Pejkovic.

“This is the most comprehensive refrigeration conference AIRAH has put together in the past decade. Anyone who attends this conference is bound to come away informed and inspired.”