ACR Journal

December 2021 | January 2022 NEWS 04 Volume 8 No.1 Graeme Fox will be next IOR President Graeme Fox will be the next president of the Institute of Refrigeration (IOR) after being named president-elect following a members' vote. He will assist current president Mike Creamer in his duties before taking over as president in November 2022. Fox, a former air conditioning contractor and current head of technical at BESA and REFCOM, has been active in the IOR both as a trustee and helping to promote air conditioning and heat pumps, working with the Beyond Refrigeration environment group, providing information and advice on F-Gas Regulations for the RACHP Engineering Technician Section and giving talks to members. He said: “I am hugely grateful for the messages of support from the members – it is truly humbling. I look forward to taking on this role and helping the Institute continue its years of great work and help shape our great industry for the future.” Mike Creamer commented: “I should like to sincerely thank all of the candidates who put themselves forward for these important trustee and president-elect roles. I warmly welcome those chosen by the IOR members and look forward to a very constructive year aimed at helping the RACHP industry and its end-user customers much as we possibly can.” Ian Fisher and Catarina Marques were elected as the two new trustees on the IOR board. Fisher, of Mattair Maintenance, is a long-term member of the IOR’s RACHP Engineering Technician Section helping to produce practical bulletins particularly with an air conditioning and heat pump focus and giving talks at colleges. He is also an experienced STEM ambassador with schools. Marques, who works at London South Bank University, has been active in IOR’s SIRACH research network and its Women in RACHP group for many years as well as the membership and papers and publications committees. She has given several technical talks and recently won the Kenneth Lightfoot Medal for her work on heat networks. MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC INVESTS £15.3M IN SCOTTISH HEAT PUMP PLANT Mitsubishi Electric Air Conditioning Systems Europe is investing £15.3m in its Livingston manufacturing facility to increase productivity, efficiency and research & development (R&D) capabilities and meet increasing European and UK demand for its low carbon heat pumps. The products manufactured at Livingston incorporate air and ground source heat pump technology, which are renewable low carbon alternatives to traditional high carbon heating systems. The R&D activity will support the development of next generation heat pump technology in Scotland, including investigating new low global warming potential refrigerants and materials. The company says it will seek ways to incorporate the outputs into future product manufacturing to create world-leading products that reduce their overall environmental impact, while delivering renewable energy that is urgently required for meeting environmental goals and achieving net zero status. Mitsubishi Electric Air Conditioning Systems Europe signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Scottish Enterprise to formalise their alliance. Scottish Enterprise is contributing to the investment project with a wide package of support, including £1.8m of grant funding, creating 55 new jobs and protecting 324 existing jobs. Masao Nagano, president of Mitsubishi Electric Air Conditioning Systems Europe, said: “This MoU cements an already strong relationship with Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish Government and our commitment in Scotland to produce low carbon heating systems. We are developing our ‘smart factory’, where we can integrate automation and robotics equipment into operations, install industrial advanced sensing systems to provide real time information, and develop digital skills for our employees. Not only will this lower our own manufacturing emissions, it enables us to help our customers lower their emissions too.'' Time for return to plannedmaintenance Refrigeration contractors and end users are being urged to re-establish regular planned maintenance and servicing of equipment. Green Point UK, BITZER UK’s compressor remanufacturing and support arm, says a dramatic reduction in routine maintenance during the extended lockdowns is causing a spike in refrigeration compressor breakdowns. General manager Will Pribyl said: “A lot of planned, routine maintenance that would normally have been carried out during the lockdowns was suspended, for perfectly understandable reasons. However, refrigeration equipment continued to operate throughout this time and was subject to all the usual wear and tear, with the inevitable consequences for components, wear parts and impact on filters and motors. “We are already seeing the results of this in terms of compressor failures and system issues. If people have not already done so, we highly recommend that contractors and end users reinstate maintenance regimes so that any issues can be addressed and equipment brought back up to scratch.” L-R: Graeme Fox, Ian Fisher and Catarina Marques