Market news, 15 May 2024
The Institute of Refrigeration has honoured the achievements of some the industry’s most talented individuals at last night’s 119thAnnual Dinner at the Grange St Pauls London, hosted by President Kevin Glass FInstR.
The winner for the Ted Perry Award for Student Research was Eman Hussein of the University of Birmingham. The Ted Perry Award was established to encourage and reward student research in the field of refrigeration, air conditioning or heat pumps. Eman’s work involved developing advanced metal organic framework materials with high water adsorption capacity. This included investigating both the theoretical assessment of these materials and the practical development of the adsorption heat pump. The judges commented on the vision of Eman’s research which “shows in-depth knowledge of applications where solar energy and waste heat sources can be used to produce cooling.” .The prize was supported by Hawco and the IOR Ted Perry Memorial Fund.
Joseph Birchof SJJ System Services received the IOR Service Engineers Section Lifetime Achievement for an individual who has dedicated their career to outstanding service work. Described by his employer as an amazing engineer and person, Joseph has demonstrated personal commitment to developing his knowledge of all aspects of his work from refrigeration to electrical controls, legal, practical – as well as understanding of future needs and commitment to the environment.Joseph has also shown his commitment to the future of the industry by passing on his knowledge to the next generation and supporting this small company’s first apprentice for the last four years. The award is supported by ACR Journal.
Awarded to the best IOR talk or webinar presenter in the past 12 months by a members’ vote, the IOR Lightfoot Medal this year was presented to Chris Druce MInstR for his paper and talk entitled “The Impact of Refrigerant Charge on the Capacity and Efficiency of a System Containing Low GWP Refrigerants”. Chris received a prize donated by Lightfoot Defence.
The IOR’s most prestigious award, the J&E Hall International Gold Medal, which recognises the most noteworthy practical contribution globally to the field of refrigeration, air conditioning or heat pumps, was awarded to Mark McLindenfrom National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) in the USA. The judging panel decided that this year’s medal should be awarded to an individual who had made one of the most truly significant international contributions to addressing the biggest challenge our industry faces - that of identify new, environmentally friendly refrigerants. Our winner and his team used the fundamental thermodynamic characteristics of the ideal refrigerant to carry out a systematic and exhaustive screening of a database of over 60 million molecules.The 60 million molecules were ultimately reduced to a set of the 27 “best” candidates. This work has provided the key technical guidance to the HVAC&R and chemical industries needed to develop new refrigerants to support the international quest for low GWP refrigerants that also satisfy often-conflicting performance, safety, and environmental-impact requirements. The Gold Medal to be kept for one year, together with an engraved Silver replica was presented by Andrew Bowden, Managing Director of J&E Hall International, along with a prize of £5,000.
To find out more about the IOR awards and our honour roll of past winners, visit www.ior.org.uk/about/IOR-awards.
During his speech at the IOR dinner which took place on 21 February, IOR President Kevin Glass highlighted some of the IOR’s initiatives which have been developed to attract young talent to the RACHP sector. The industry has been subjected to chronic skills shortages and the IOR is developing initiatives which aim to reverse this trend. In order to inspire young minds and develop awareness of the sector, the IOR will be relaunching Fantastic Fridges which will feature refrigeration science based experiments for children in Key Stage 2 onwards.There will be incentives for schools to video their own experiments including prizes for the best videos thus offering crucial additional resources for schools.
As part of its mission to attract young people, the IOR will assist the professional development of its young members with a new Membership Development Pathway. Providing a clear route for applicants to progress from their current level of membership to the next, it will offer opportunities to plan their experience and responsibilities to move up to the next grade with the help of a mentor. The evening also saw the launch of the Young Engineer Network which will provide a platform for young RACHP engineers to exchange ideas, tackle challenges and network.
