ShareThe Congress in Yokohama: a great success!
"We came here, we prepared papers, we shared information. We have more friends. It cannot be better.” Dr. Piotr Domanski (President of the Science and Technology Council) during the ICR2015 closing ceremony.
In Yokohama, the International Congress of Refrigeration, a huge milestone in the refrigeration sector, saw a massive amount of information disseminated. ICR2015 lived up to expectations with almost 1,200 conference delegates, 143 sessions, and 643 papers and 104 posters.
In comparison to previous Congresses, ICR2015 saw increased participation; more young researchers; better English skills facilitating communication.
Additionally, it highlighted the change of the IIR from the 70s as a basically European organization, to a truly international organization welcoming participants from 49 countries on five continents.
The excellent keynote, presented by Dr. Ken Koyama, outlining Japan’s energy situation and strategy was an outstanding way to start a conference. It determined our understanding in terms of the situation with energy security, giving the big picture, presenting drivers, as well as supply and demand issues
Dr. Koyama outlined the global perspective and the Japanese perspective while presenting Japanese policy in terms of energy security, economic efficiency and environment.
In a break with tradition and the ten track IIR Commission based programme, there was also a building track. This new addition focused on green buildings, indoor comfort and productivity, and building simulations.
Phase down of high GWP refrigerant: a driving factor
One salient topic at the Congress was what AC&R systems will be in the future. One of the outcomes of papers presented on this topic was that future equipment will be more efficient, more reliable and smarter while similarly addressing the phase down of high GWP refrigerants.
Likewise, the market share increase of CO2 was established as well as the rise in the number of installations in supermarkets and water heater heat pumps. One presentation specifically addressed multiple injectors in supermarket refrigeration while another suggested that CO2 may also be a promising solution for use in high ambient temperatures.
Alternative systems for the future
With 23 papers presented mostly from Asian countries, adsorption and absorption showed a renewal with an increased interest in hybrid systems and a search for niche applications.
Likewise, in the last 15 years magnetocaloric refrigeration has been gaining visibility and this was represented in Yokohama with 2 sessions on the magnetocaloric technology followed by three workshops on: “Magnetic Refrigeration for Commercial Refrigerated Appliances”, “Magnetic Refrigeration: Material and Systems”, and the ELICiT Project on magnetic refrigeration.
Not to be overlooked
With so many topics and papers presented, we cannot report on them all. Nonetheless additional subjects encompassed liquefaction and separation of gases with an emerging interest in LNG processing and use; the pharmaceutical cold chain; and SMARTS including smart heat pumps for smart electrical grids.
Finally, cycle modifications notably by using ejectors and incremental energy efficiency improvement thanks to enhanced defrosting systems. Furthermore, liquid and solid desiccants, and evaporative cooling were also the subject of numerous papers.
Make no other plans
During the closing ceremony, attendees received a sneak preview of ICR2019 in Montreal. Four year seems like a long time, but it will soon be around the corner, starting with abstract submission opening 1 April 2018. We looking forward to seeing you in Montreal, until then stay cool!
In the meantime, numerous IIR conferences focusing on current hot topics will take place around the world. Check out upcoming IIR events.
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