2014 AHR Expo Innovation Award Recipients Announced

Dec. 24, 2013
The winning entries are said to represent the most innovative new products among the thousands that will be displayed at the 2014 AHR Expo in New York City.

International Exposition Co., producer and organizer of the International Air-Conditioning, Heating, Refrigerating Exposition (AHR Expo), recently announced the recipients of the 2014 AHR Expo Innovation Awards.

Evaluated by a panel of ASHRAE members based on innovation, application, value to the user, and market impact, the winning entries are said to represent the most innovative new products among the thousands that will be displayed at the 2014 AHR Expo, which will be held Jan. 21-23 at Javits Convention Center in New York City.

The 2014 AHR Expo Innovation Award recipients are:

• Building Automation: Belimo Aircontrols (USA) Inc. for the Belimo Energy Valve.

• Cooling: Emerson Climate Technologies for Next Generation Copeland Scroll variable-speed compressors.

• Green Building: Lafert North America for high-performance Metric Motors.

• Heating: WaterFurnace International Inc. for the 7 Series 700A11 geothermal heat pump.

• Indoor Air Quality (IAQ): Neptronic for the SKD direct-steam-injection humidifier.

• Plumbing: Rheem Manufacturing Co. for the Rheem Prestige Series hybrid electric heat-pump water heater.

• Refrigeration: Danfoss for ADAP-KOOL AK-SM 800 Series System Manager.

• Software: HVAC Solution Inc. for the Revit Connection 2.0 building-information-modeling software add-in.

• Tools & Instruments: Imperial for Imperial iManifold.

• Ventilation: Big Ass Fans for the Haiku ceiling fan.

Receiving honorable mentions were:

• Building Automation: American Auto-Matrix for the AspectFT 2.0 Web-enabled building-automation system (BAS); Distech Controls Inc. for programmable variable-air-volume integrated room controllers; SenseAir America for the tSense True Read carbon-dioxide, relative-humidity, and temperature transmitter; and tekmar Control Systems for Boiler Control 284.

• Cooling: Baltimore Aircoil Co. for the Series 3000 cooling tower, Carrier for the Toshiba Carrier heat-recovery variable-refrigerant-flow (VRF) system, and Lordo America for QTUBE flexible composite air-conditioning and refrigeration lines.

• Green Building: Advantix Systems for DT-X desiccant dehumidification technology, ebm-papst Inc. for the RadiPac Series K3G630 plug fan, and Zehnder Rittling for ZIP radiant ceiling panels.

• Heating: Carrier for the Carrier Infinity 18VS variable-speed heat pump, LG Electronics U.S.A. Inc. for the Art Cool Premier high-efficiency duct-free heat pump, Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating Solutions for the H2i R2-Series VRF heat pump, Trane for the TruComfort variable-speed split-system heat pump, and Weil-McLain for the SlimFit commercial condensing gas boiler.

• IAQ: Belimo Aircontrols (USA) Inc. for the ZIP Economizer, Best Living Systems LLC for multicluster ionization, Plasma Air International for the Plasma BAR bipolar ion generator, and Ultravation Inc. for the UVXact ultraviolet-C intensity monitor.

• Plumbing: Caleffi Hydronic Solutions for the QuickSetter balancing valve, Navien America for NPE-180S/210S/240S condensing gas tankless water heaters, and Watts Water Technologies Inc. for the TRITON pipe-fusion system.

• Refrigeration: Baltimore Aircoil Co. for the TrilliumSeries adiabatic condenser, BITZER Kuhlmaschinenbau GmbH for the New Ecoline Varispeed reciprocating compressor, Samsung Electronics (Samsung Compressor Direct) for the Ultra T-20 rotary compressor, and Parker Hannifin, Sporlan Division, for ZoomLine refrigerant-line assemblies.

• Software: Carrier for the ComfortDRAW design tool for BAS, Emerson Climate Technologies for the HVAC Check & Charge mobile application, and Maxwell Systems Inc. for the ProContractorMX Mobile Connect annotation tool for iPad.

• Tools & Instruments: Fluke Corp. for the VT04 visual infrared thermometer, Goodway Technologies Corp. for the RAM-PRO-XL tube cleaner, and hilmor for the Compact Swage Tool.

• Ventilation: Airius LLC for the Air Pear destratification fan, Aldes for the VentZone Zoned IAQ with Heat Recovery Kit, Building Performance Equipment Inc. for its energy-recovery ventilator, Modine Manufacturing Co. for the Airedale ClassMate vertical direct-expansion and heat-pump ventilation system, and Rosenberg USA Inc. for the B-Wheel backward-curved fan impeller.

The 2014 AHR Expo Innovation Award recipients will be honored during a special ceremony on Jan. 22 at Javits Convention Center.