The Institute of Refrigeration (IOR) has honoured some of the outstanding members of the RACHP industry at its Annual Dinner.

The event included four different accolades highlighting a variety of achievements in the sector.

The Ted Perry Award was created in memory of former IOR President Ted Perry and is presented for research of a practical nature related the field of refrigeration by a young person. The winner was Chris Druce for his research on the impact of refrigerant leakage on the performance of systems comparing various refrigerants including HFO blends. In his nomination statement, his supervisor Graeme Maidment described his research as particularly noteworthy and topical as very little has been done in this area so far.

The Service Engineers Section Lifetime Achievement Award celebrates an individual who has spent their whole career in this industry and displayed exceptional dedication to their customers, employers and their sector. Grayme Selkirk from Tesco Refrigeration and Martyn Ross from J&E Hall were both recipients of this award for their services to the industry.

Maurice Young and Andy Pearson collected the Lightfoot Medal for the best evening paper for their ‘Ammonia leakage, dispersion and risk assessment’ talk.

The J&E Hall Gold Medal, which recognises the most noteworthy practical contribution to our field was awarded to Tom Watson of Daikin Applied for work including the introduction of large capacity oil-free compressors and the safe application of low GWP flammable refrigerants, which resulted in significant improvements in the efficiency of chillers and industrial heat pumps.

The IOR is already looking forward to its next Annual Dinner which will take place on 22 February 2018 at the Grange St Pauls’ Hotel. More details will follow in due course.