Graduates of universities, polytechnics, colleges and other educational institutions, whose scientific paper has been accredited as a doctoral, master’s or bachelor’s thesis, or final paper for a similar degree in the field of refrigeration technology using natural refrigerants have now just under five months to register for the biannual award granted by the European initiative eurammon. The paper should centre on the use of hydrocarbons, ammonia, carbon dioxide, water or air, and be reviewed between January 2008 and June 2009 to be eligible for the $5 000 award.

Natural refrigerants to replace HCHCs

For its third edition, the international panel, made up of scientific, business and media representatives, will reward the most innovative thesis as regards to the use of natural refrigerants, such as hydrocarbons in refrigeration systems. The awards will be presented in the autumn of 2009. “The Natural Refrigeration Award aims to encourage young scientists to work on sustainable solutions in refrigeration and air conditioning. In view of the phasing-out of HCFCs, this challenge is becoming increasingly important. Natural refrigerants like ammonia, carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons are an obvious alternative: they are eco-friendly, efficient and easy to handle”, says Monika Witt, Chairwoman of Eurammon.

Previous winners

In the 2007 competition, the first place went to Jörg Nickl, who wrote on “Development of an expander/compressor for the transcritical refrigeration process with carbon dioxide as refrigerant” at the Technical University of Dresden. He 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. In 2005, the first prize went to Paul Tischer at Dresden's Technical University for his scientific paper on "Supercritical Carbon Dioxide as Refrigerant." Tischer studied a number of questions related to producing refrigeration with carbon dioxide, where the condensation temperature of the carbon dioxide lies above the critical temperature. His research results in plant designs optimised for thermodynamic considerations.

Background

The European initiative for natural refrigerants eurammon will award the €5,000 prize in cooperation with the “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” University, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, in Skopje, Macedonia, and the Belgian-Dutch trade publication Cool & Comfort.