Newsletter INDEE+ | September 2023

INDEE+ is progressing toward creating various milestones in the Indian HVAC&R sector by introducing eco-friendly clean as well as green R744 heating and cooling solutions. The same will be further adopted as a system design in the future as a guideline toward adopting and implementing environment-friendly and sustainable solutions. As a part of the project deliverables, INDEE+ team attended the International Congress of Refrigeration (ICR) 2023 in Paris to interact and connect with the various technocrats and scientists working in the field to learn new logical approaches and methods.         

The ICR 2023 is the world's largest gathering of scientists, experts, technicians, and professionals in the field of refrigeration and air conditioning. It provides a unique forum to present and disseminate the results of research, development, and innovation. The importance of this year’s event was, it first held in Paris, France in 1908, at the Paris-Sorbonne University. It was the first international meeting of experts and industry representatives to discuss the latest developments and challenges in refrigeration.

Researchers appointed in the project: Future Refrigeration India: INDEE+ presented their research work related to upcoming demosites in India under the project framework. INDEE+ is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and coordinated by Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Norway.

 

As a part of the INDEE+ dissemination activity, following is the list of the conference papers published and presented at ICR 2023.

• Integrated R744 Heat Pump/chiller for Hotel: State-of-the-Art Implementation. 
• Refrigerated Transportation and Cold-chain Logistics in India– Current Status and Future Prospect.
• Thermodynamic analysis of a multi-evaporator propane refrigeration cycle using a two-phase ejector as an expansion device.
• Evaluation of various subcooling techniques in an ejector-based CO₂ transcritical refrigeration system for hot climate operation.
• Performance analysis of a CO₂ based milk chiller with evaporative cooling arrangement operating in hot climate.
• Study on retaining natural refrigerant in seafood processing industries in India.   

 

Moreover, INDEE+ team has also become a part of an unforgettable three-weeks knowledge and skill enhancement session in which Ph.D. and PDF researchers traveled to various locations and visited several industries in Europe. The knowledge and skill enhancement program were organised by NTNU Norway under Project: Educational Program for Sustainable Heating and Cooling Solutions for India (EduCool) funded by Research Council of Norway (RCN). From Applications to implementation, the scope of this program has covered a various stakeholder of R744 technology.

 

Following picture and table shows the training program route, locations and facilities visited:

 

   

The knowledge and skill enhancement program advanced Indian researchers in diverse aspects:

• Practical exposure to CO₂ HP/Ref units of various capacities; from assembly to operations.
• Importance of boundary conditions and system component design constraints with respect to the application areas and operational conditions.
• Grasping the challenges of ambient conditions and technical aspects to be considered during the design and implementation of similar units in relatively warmer Indian context.
• Conducting hands-on-training with multi-approach R744 test-rigs at NTNU.
• Appreciating the dominance of modelling tool like Dymola to conduct experimental results validation.
• The programs offered an interactive platform with many experts working in the field of R744 eco-friendly sustainable solutions to fulfill both heating and cooling demand for various applications.