OzonAction award winners

ASHRAE and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) have announced the project selections for the 2019 ASHRAE-UNEP OzonAction Lower-GWP Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Innovation Awards.

The annual international award program promotes innovative design, research and practice by recognising people who have developed or implemented innovative technological concepts applied in developing countries to promote lower global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants through refrigeration and air conditioning applications.

The selected projects were announced in Rome at the 31^st Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

ASHRAE Presidential Member and co-chair of the judging committee Sheila Hayter says the projects represent long-term, global and energy-efficient solutions to lessen the impact of ozone depleting substances.

“We congratulate the selected project teams and look forward to witnessing their innovative concepts set a benchmark for sustainability in developing countries,” she says.

The project selections in each category were based on delivering innovative solutions to meet refrigeration and air conditioning needs by using lower-GWP technologies.

The selection criteria included the extent of need, innovative aspects in transforming conventional practices, technical replicability to developing countries, and economy feasibility to developing countries.

OzonAction’s acting head/network and policy manager James Curlin believes we are living at a watershed moment under the Montreal Protocol, when developing countries must find long-term solutions to replace HCFC refrigerants while simultaneously minimising climate impacts.

“It is vital to empower the research community to identify new approaches and alternative refrigerants that work for those countries,” he says.

Five projects were selected in the residential applications and commercial/industrial applications categories.

Projects

Residential applications

• Low Charge Ammonia Vapor Compression Refrigeration System for Residential Air-Conditioning implemented in India
  Project team: Rajesh Kumar N, D. Mohan Lal and Kamalakannan

• HFC-161 Application Technology Development for High Cooling Capacity Household Air Conditioners implemented in China
  Project team: Zhang Jianjun, Guo Zhikai, Zhang Lei, Zhang Mingjie and Xie Pinzan

Commercial/industrial applications

• Packaged Chillers with Integrated Air Handling Units Using HFC-32 and HC-290 implemented in Saudi Arabia
  Project team: Samir Hamed Alfetiany, Husam Quedan and Samer Hamed Alfetiany

• The Crocodile Project CO2 Transcritical Refrigeration System for a Hot-and-Humid Region implemented in Thailand
  Project team: Warot Lamlertpongpana, Wallop Lamlertpongpana, Jittakorn Sukjareon and Kittitach Chumnarnwat

• Low Charge Propane Chiller for a Supermarket Commercial Refrigeration System implemented in Brazil
  Project team: Rogério Marson Rodrigues, Ivair Lucio Soares Junior, Gustavo Galdi Heidinger, Cassio Lucio Simonetti and Edgard Soares Pinto Neto

The projects will be showcased at OzonAction Network meetings and at the ASHRAE Winter Conference in Orlando, USA next year.