Students from around the world, from the US to China, competed for this year’s Natural Refrigeration Award. eurammon announced the winners at its annual general meeting in Frankfurt today. First place went to Jörg Nickl, who wrote his doctorate on “Development of an expander/compressor for the transcritical refrigeration process with carbon dioxide as refrigerant” at the Technical University of Dresden. The coefficient of performance (COP) of transcritical refrigeration circuits with carbon dioxide can be improved by 20 percent by replacing the throttle valve with an expander. So Nickl designed a low-frequency, three-stage expander that is directly connected to a compressor. In practical trials, the doctoral student was able to demonstrate the increased efficiency of this novel design.
Christine Junior, from the Technical University Carolo-Wilhelmina at Brunswick, won second place with her diploma thesis entitled “Energetic evaluation of different R744 loop concepts”. Arash Soleimani Karimabad, who obtained his MSc from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm with a thesis entitled “Experimental investigations of an ammonia/carbon dioxide cascade system for supermarket refrigeration” came in third. The winners presented their work to eurammon’s international members and accepted their awards, with prize money totalling €5,000, at the meeting.
“All three prize winners addressed technical issues relating to the natural refrigerant carbon dioxide”, says Thomas Spänich, member of the Executive Board of eurammon, the European initiative for natural refrigerants. “Operators, designers and manufacturers are greatly interested in refrigeration technology using carbon dioxide, as it is an ideal refrigerant in today’s energy and environmental situation. Carbon dioxide does not affect the ozone layer and, with a reference value of 1, has a low direct global warming potential. The winner’s findings all contribute towards making carbon dioxide practical as a refrigerant for an increasing number of applications.”
eurammon’s Natural Refrigeration Award recognises the best scientific dissertation or thesis on the topic of natural refrigerants. By awarding this prize, the European initiative for natural refrigerants hopes to encourage young scientists to work on sustainable refrigeration and air-conditioning solutions. This year, the Natural Refrigeration Award is co-hosted by the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology (Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan) in Stockholm and ScanRef, the Scandinavian HVACR trade publication.
A publishable photograph of the award ceremony and English-speaking abstracts of the three winning theses can be requested at eurammon@faktor3.de.
Christine Junior, from the Technical University Carolo-Wilhelmina at Brunswick, won second place with her diploma thesis entitled “Energetic evaluation of different R744 loop concepts”. Arash Soleimani Karimabad, who obtained his MSc from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm with a thesis entitled “Experimental investigations of an ammonia/carbon dioxide cascade system for supermarket refrigeration” came in third. The winners presented their work to eurammon’s international members and accepted their awards, with prize money totalling €5,000, at the meeting.
“All three prize winners addressed technical issues relating to the natural refrigerant carbon dioxide”, says Thomas Spänich, member of the Executive Board of eurammon, the European initiative for natural refrigerants. “Operators, designers and manufacturers are greatly interested in refrigeration technology using carbon dioxide, as it is an ideal refrigerant in today’s energy and environmental situation. Carbon dioxide does not affect the ozone layer and, with a reference value of 1, has a low direct global warming potential. The winner’s findings all contribute towards making carbon dioxide practical as a refrigerant for an increasing number of applications.”
eurammon’s Natural Refrigeration Award recognises the best scientific dissertation or thesis on the topic of natural refrigerants. By awarding this prize, the European initiative for natural refrigerants hopes to encourage young scientists to work on sustainable refrigeration and air-conditioning solutions. This year, the Natural Refrigeration Award is co-hosted by the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology (Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan) in Stockholm and ScanRef, the Scandinavian HVACR trade publication.
A publishable photograph of the award ceremony and English-speaking abstracts of the three winning theses can be requested at eurammon@faktor3.de.
