The Institute of Refrigeration has honoured the achievements of some the industry’s most talented individuals at last night’s 119^th Annual Dinner at the Grange St Pauls London, hosted by President Kevin Glass FInstR.

The winner for the Ted Perry Award for Student Research was Eman Hussein of the University of Birmingham. The Ted Perry Award was established to encourage and reward student research in the field of refrigeration, air conditioning or heat pumps.  Eman’s work involved developing advanced metal organic framework materials with high water adsorption capacity. This included investigating both the theoretical assessment of these materials and the practical development of the adsorption heat pump. The judges commented on the vision of Eman’s research which “shows in-depth knowledge of applications where solar energy and waste heat sources can be used to produce cooling.” . The prize was supported by Hawco and the IOR Ted Perry Memorial Fund.

Joseph Birch of SJJ System Services received the IOR Service Engineers Section Lifetime Achievement for an individual who has dedicated their career to outstanding service work.  Described by his employer as an amazing engineer and person, Joseph has demonstrated personal commitment to developing his knowledge of all aspects of his work from refrigeration to electrical controls, legal, practical – as well as understanding of future needs and commitment to the environment. Joseph has also shown his commitment to the future of the industry by passing on his knowledge to the next generation and supporting this small company’s first apprentice for the last four years.  The award is supported by ACR Journal.

Awarded to the best IOR talk or webinar presenter in the past 12 months by a members’ vote, the IOR Lightfoot Medal this year was presented to Chris Druce MInstR for his paper and talk entitled “The Impact of Refrigerant Charge on the Capacity and Efficiency of a System Containing Low GWP Refrigerants”. Chris received a prize donated by Lightfoot Defence.

The IOR’s most prestigious award, the J&E Hall International Gold Medal, which recognises the most noteworthy practical contribution globally to the field of refrigeration, air conditioning or heat pumps, was awarded to Mark McLinden from National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) in the USA.  The judging panel decided that this year’s medal should be awarded to an individual who had made one of the most truly significant international contributions to addressing the biggest challenge our industry faces - that of identify new, environmentally friendly refrigerants.  Our winner and his team used the fundamental thermodynamic characteristics of the ideal refrigerant to carry out a systematic and exhaustive screening of a database of over 60 million molecules. The 60 million molecules were ultimately reduced to a set of the 27 “best” candidates.  This work has provided the key technical guidance to the HVAC&R and chemical industries needed to develop new refrigerants to support the international quest for low GWP refrigerants that also satisfy often-conflicting performance, safety, and environmental-impact requirements. The Gold Medal to be kept for one year, together with an engraved Silver replica was presented by Andrew Bowden, Managing Director of J&E Hall International, along with a prize of £5,000.

To find out more about the IOR awards and our honour roll of past winners, visit www.ior.org.uk/about/IOR-awards.