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The 21st International Congress of Refrigeration |
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The 2003 International Congress of Refrigeration was held in Washington, D.C., USA, August 17-22, 2003. Participating in this congress and visiting Washington D.C. was especially meaningful to me because of my experience of living in the suburbs of this city with my family and studying at the University of Maryland as a visiting scholar about three years ago. Since that time I have thought of Washington D.C. as a second home. I am happy to write about 2003 ICR held in my memorial place. However, due to my youth, I fell heavy and difficulty to write about ICR, which has such a long history and authority. I would hope that this letter will be thought of as a brief gintroductionh or gimpressionh from a relatively young participant of the congress.
The International Congress of Refrigeration (ICR) is held once every four years by the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR). The IIR has 57 member countries and this congress has become the primary meeting in which to exchange information and the latest research results in all fields associated with refrigeration among participants from industry and universities all over the world. This congress was comprised of three sessions, a Plenary Session, a Short Course and a Technical Session, which continued for six days from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day. In addition, Technical Tours were carried out in parallel with the afternoon sessions. Because of the interest of participants in the technical tours, in the afternoon, the audiences in the session rooms decreased and I felt there was little active discussion. However, the technical tours are one of the most interesting features of this congress. This made me realize the value of the technical tours to our young participants, and the importance of the opportunity to visit research facilities and enjoy communication between participants from all over the world.
Technical tours were conducted to seven facilities: a government RD laboratory (NIST), the Total Energy Demonstration Project (University of Maryland), the Application of Cryogenics (National Zoological Park), a thermal storage system (Montogomery County Community College), a Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturing Plant (EVAPCO), a Refrigeration Distribution Warehouse (Merchants Terminal), Gothic Cathedral HVAC Systems (Washington Cathedral), and a screw compressor manufacturing facility (York Refrigeration/Frick).
In particular, the tour to the renowned National Institute of Technology (NIST) was very popular. The actual number of participants exceeded the number of initial applicants. The research facilities to view research on refrigeration technology including micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS), was also of great interest to the participants. Personally, the trip to Washington Cathedral made a deep impression on me and I hope you all will have the opportunity to visit the Washington Cathedral, which is one of the worldfs rare applications of air conditioning systems in a gothic style cathedral.
The technical presentation sessions saw a total of 450 presentations, both oral presentations and poster sessions, including 30 from Japan. The presentation topics included: cryogenic and gas processing, thermodynamics in equipment and systems, biology and food technology, storage and transport of perishables, air conditioning heat pumps and energy recovery. In the session on Absorption Fluid and Process and Systems, in which I participated, there were 27 contributions, including six papers by Japanese, and Asian and European presenters were prominent in this session.
Recently, it has been said that refrigeration technology has become a mature technology, and I also think so. Therefore, it may be reasonable that I had difficulty finding new areas of interest at this congress. However, the topics addressed by the ICR are related to our most fundamental needs. As such, we must continue to try to advance this technology including science, absolutely. I like to believe that a novel idea and new technology will arise out of from our trying and effort.
I would like to close by saying that, for myself, participation in this congress and meeting with Prof. R. Radermacher and old colleagues were both enjoyable and fruitful. I look forward to the next ICR.
USA Captital in Washington DC