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2017 ASHRAE Conference to Feature Sessions on Low-GWP Refrigerants

Nov. 22, 2016
Industry experts will share guidance on how to incorporate low-global-warming-potential refrigerants at the ASHRAE 2017 Winter Conference.

In light of recent action by 197 countries agreeing to amend the Montreal Protocol to phase down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) globally, industry experts will share guidance on how to incorporate low-global-warming-potential refrigerants at the ASHRAE 2017 Winter Conference.

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“Providing technical expertise for ASHRAE’s members and their clients continues to be the core of the conference technical program,” Leon Shapiro, conference chair, said. “Climate change will compel ASHRAE members to rethink HVAC&R for the future. In addition to sessions on low-GWP refrigerants, the technical program will also focus on the water-energy nexus and designing for maximum efficiency, energy efficiency, and IAQ in industrial spaces and achieving projected results after all the modeling is completed. The rich experience from the technical program will leave the attendees better prepared to deal with these issues as they advance their professional careers.”

The 2017 ASHRAE Winter Conference will take place Jan. 28 to Feb. 1 at Caesars Palace, with the co-sponsored AHR Expo being held Jan. 30 to Feb. 1 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The two events are expected to draw thousands of industry professionals from around the world.

The technical program features eight tracks, 86 papers, 28 technical papers presented via poster session, 248 presentations, and 331 speakers. The tracks are Water-Energy Nexus, Advances in Mission Critical Design and Operation, Climate Change and Its Effects on HVAC&R Design and Technologies, Energy Efficient Industrial Buildings, Fundamentals and Applications, HVAC&R Systems and Equipment, Commercial and Industrial IAQ, and Building Operation and Performance: Meeting the Modeling Expectations.

Among the sessions is a two-part seminar, “Low-GWP Alternative Refrigerants and Their Applications.” The seminars feature six papers included in the November 2016 issue of ASHRAE’s Science and Technology for the Built Environment focusing on thermophysical properties, modeling, heat-transfer performance, lubricant/refrigerant miscibility, and system applications of low-GWP halocarbon refrigerants containing unsaturated carbon bonds.

“As regulations and legislation become increasingly more widespread and restrictive, the HVAC&R industry will need to identify viable alternatives for existing refrigerant solutions,” J. Steven Brown, seminar chair, said. “This environmentally driven change is different than those in the past since additional constraints are being placed on refrigerants, in essence reducing the number of viable single-component solutions.”

Sessions pertaining to refrigerants in the technical program are:

  • Seminar 64: Research Update on Activities Toward the Safe Use of Low GWP Flammable Refrigerants.
  • Seminars 40/56: Low-GWP Alternative Refrigerants and Their Applications: Parts 1 and 2.
  • Workshop 2: Optimization of Direct AC Systems With Low GWP Refrigerants.
  • Seminar 6: Recent Action in Evaporative Cooling.
  • Conference Paper Session 22: Refrigeration Systems and Low GWP Refrigerants.

To register for the conference, which includes free access to the AHR Expo, visit www.ashrae.org/lasvegas.