Trane made a triumphant return to the International Air-Conditioning, Heating, Refrigerating Exposition (AHR Expo) in 2013, celebrating its 100-year anniversary with one of the largest, most talked about, and most visited booths at the event, held Jan. 28-30 in Dallas.
The company, which last exhibited at the AHR Expo approximately 15 years ago, showcased new products, systems, and services; gave on-site demonstrations and technology-based presentations; and held special anniversary activities.
“For 100 years, Trane has ... provid(ed) heating and air-conditioning solutions to help people live, work, and play in comfortable environments,” Dave Regnery, president of Trane North America, said. “As we move into our second century, we are excited to play a leadership role in energy efficiency as we drive the advancement of energy-management services and energy conservation.”
Trane was founded in 1913 by James Trane; his daughter, Stella; and his son, Reuben. Milestone inventions include the convector radiator in 1925 and what later became known as TurboVac, a water-chilling unit combining a centrifugal compressor, condenser, and evaporator, in 1938. (For more information on Trane achievements, visit www.trane.com/Commercial/100years/.)
Trane highlighted seven new solutions for the health-care, education, hospitality, retail, commercial, industrial, and data-center markets at the 2013 AHR Expo:
• The Advantage VRF variable refrigerant system, which closely matches energy use to demand, providing heating and cooling to only the areas of a building in need of it.
• Intelligent variable air systems, which are said to be 20 to 30 percent more energy-efficient than traditional variable-air-volume (VAV) systems.
• IntelliPak I packaged rooftop units, which provide static-efficiency improvements of 15 to 20 percent compared with traditional fan technologies and, when coupled with higher-efficiency refrigeration-system components and system control strategies, can achieve building energy savings of up to 22 percent.
• The Series S CenTraVac chiller featuring AdaptiSpeed technology for replacement and retrofit applications.
• Axiom variable-speed water-source heat pumps, now available in horizontal configurations.
• Wireless Comm, said to be the industry’s first control system to run BACnet protocol on top of ZigBee Building Automation standards and to be ZigBee-certified.
• High-efficiency terminal devices with electrically commutated motors and single-zone VAV capability.
For more highlights from Trane’s 2013 AHR Expo exhibit, including videos, visit www.trane.com/ahr-2013/.