9 January 2020 : Fujitsu "The Latest Technology" Rob Broughton Ultimate Air
On Thursday Sept 13th Mr Chris Green of Arctic Circle presented a talk on
" Storing Waste Heat Under Car Parks"
Report under Newsletter
See Report under Newsletter
IOR Anniversary Networking Event in association with the London Refrigeration Society.
On the 8th December 1899 the IOR was formed at a meeting chaired by R Leonard with 16 interested individuals. Initially known as the Cold Storage and Ice Association, reflecting the early days of refrigeration in the UK, which was based on ice imports.
To mark the formation of the IOR we are inviting members and guests to this informal historical talk on 5th December. The location chosen for this meeting is one that is significant to the early refrigeration industry. The London Canal Museum is based in a former ice warehouse and exhibition displays features the history of the ice (and ice cream) trade. Those taking part will gain free entry to explore the museum including, optionally, to descend into the ice well.
After visiting the museum there will be short talk on the Birth of the Refrigeration Industry in London 1850-1900 by Andy Pearson, Chairman of the IOR Technical Committee. He will focus on interesting facts about our early pioneers in the then newly established refrigeration industry.
The talk will include
Andy Pearson FInstR has a keen interest in refrigeration history and will share his knowledge at this event during an informal talk.
London Canal Museum, New Wharf Road, Kings Cross, N1 9RT
The London Canal Museum is based in a former ice warehouse and exhibition displays features the history of the ice (and ice cream) trade . Those taking part will gain free entry to explore the museum including, optionally, to descend into the ice well. Find out more about ice and the London Canal Museum here.
This unique museum is a short walk from Kings Cross Station.
The event is supported by the IOR Presidents Fund.
On Thursday 10 January, LRS was visited by Richard Metcalfe, Malcolm Edwards and Lee Chard from ICS Cool Energy. Malcolm Edwards presented us with an overview of ICS Cool Energy and what the group do and also talked about ERP/Eco design, the impact that Brexit and ERP design have on refrigerant choices and about Free Cooling. Below is a brief overview of the topics that was discussed.
ICS COOL Energy
The group provides temperature control solutions from -40℃ up to 400℃. Solutions include packaged products with next day delivery, as well as full turnkey projects. They have done specialist work for over 30 years and are now part of Ingersoll Rand Inc. with a $13.5 BN revenue and do business Europe-wide in 9 countries.
Some of the industries ICS COOL Energy does work for includes plastics and rubber packaging, food, beverage, chemical and pharmaceutical, metal works, engineering and manufacturing, medical and scientific, leisure as well as the hvac and building services industry. They hold numerous accreditations in order to work in all the different sectors.
Some of the solutions and services offered by ICS COOL Energy, includes the following:
Packaged process temperature control
Energy efficient process cooling solutions
Special process temperature control solutions
Hire solutions
Commissioning
After sales support
ERP Eco Design
The requirement that units need to be tested to, depends on the application, the intended temperature range and the capacity of the unit. The table indicate some of the requirements.
Application |
LCWT |
Capacity |
Requirement |
Comfort Cooling (People) |
+2 to 20 ℃ |
2 MW |
Comfort Chiller SEER ENER Lot 21 |
Process Cooling |
-15 T -8 ℃ |
All |
Process Chiller SEPR MT ENTR Lot 1 |
-8 >T <+2 ℃ |
Exempt |
||
+2 T 12 ℃ |
2 MW |
Process Chiller SEPR HT ENER Lot 21 |
|
> +12 ℃ |
Exempt |
||
Comfort Heating (people) |
400 kW |
Heat Pump SCOP ENER Lot 1 |
|
> 400 kW |
Comfort Chiller SEER ENER Lot 21 |
||
Process Heating |
- |
- |
Exempt |
In 2015, 80% of the units tested, had a SEER rating lower than the Tier 1 rating that was originally to come into effect in 2017 and 88% of units tested was below the Tier 2 requirement set for 2019. This means that much still needs to be done to improve energy efficiency. Lot 1 came into effect on January 1st 2018
The SEER values are regulated by Regulation (EU) No.: 2015/1095 and Regulation (EU) No.: 2016/2281 for comfort and process chillers.
The direct contribution due to the use of refrigerants is far smaller than the indirect contribution of using electricity, therefore improving the energy efficiency of a system, must be a priority.
Brexit and Eco Design link to refrigerants
In the 1900’s refrigerated vessels predominantly used air, ammonia and CO2 as refrigerants indicating that natural refrigerants have been used extensively for a long time whilst some went out of fashion others are making a comeback.
The ErP (improve efficiency levels of chillers) and F-Gas (reduce production to 21% of 2012 baseline) legislation and the Kigali agreement means that the UK have to continue with the F-Gas phase-out and the improvement of chiller efficiencies after Brexit.
Alternative refrigerants include HFC, HFO, natural refrigerants and refrigerant mixtures.
A replacement for R134a includes the non-flammable HFO blend, R513A with a GWP of 631 or the A2L refrigerant R1234ze with a very low GWP of 6 offers the best efficiency levels with a short atmospheric life of 18days
For R410A there is various alternatives on the market that is being tested including R32, R452B and R454B. These refrigerants all have various levels of flammability.
The replacement refrigerant options for R404a includes R449a, R448a and R452a.
R290 has similar properties as R22 but has a high flammability classification and isn’t really suitable as a retrofit.
When using R717, toxicity should be considered and copper can’t be used in the system. Oil management is crucial since oil is heavier than ammonia and don’t mix well with ammonia. A R717 system is very miscible with moisture requiring special attention.
When selecting the appropriate refrigerant for a system, the impact on the environment, system efficiency and safety should be considered. The difficulty surrounding Brexit is if we move to a quota system which refrigerants will you put into your quota
Free Cooling
Traditional free cooling occur when fresh air is used for cooling in a HVAC application. In an application that requires cooling or conditioning throughout the year, the low temperature conditions can be used to help provide cooling during the winter seasons.
In London, an average of 7115 hours per year is below 16 ℃ and can be utilised to reduce energy consumption on chillers by up to 44%.
Free cooling can happen fully, where ambient air is used to provide the full cooling load, or partial free cooling can be employed where the initial cooling is done with free cooling and the rest of the cooling is supplied by traditional cooling.
In a system utilising free cooling, the free cooling will start once the ambient temperature becomes lower than the return water temperature
ICS COOL energy provides built-in options as part of a packaged product or with separate coils
Feb. 11th : Our Regular guys and partners met together to celebrate a belated Christmas
Dr Helen Fitzgerald
April 14th Our Annual London Walk