January Member Meeting: Distinguished Lecturer - Update on Refrigerants, Past, Present and Future

Update on Refrigerants: Past, Present and Future

In recent decades, the refrigeration and air conditioning sciences have been in a state of flux primarily because of the phase-out of ozone-depleting CFC and HCFC refrigerants, and secondarily because of environmental concerns related to the direct global warming impacts of some of the replacement refrigerants.  Due to these concerns, there is significant worldwide interest in using substances that are naturally occurring in the biosphere as refrigerants, which are considered benign to the environment and are termed “natural working fluids”.  Surprisingly, many of these substances were already used as refrigerants at the dawn of the refrigeration technology in the late 1800’s.   Thus, when looking at the refrigerants of the future, it is essential to understand which substances have been used in past.  This presentation provides a detailed review of the past and present refrigerants, and proposes refrigerants and their respective technologies that could be used in the future.  An assessment of their characteristics related to choice of one versus another, and an identification of trends set by these choices will be made.

About the Speaker

Dr. Eckhard A. Groll is the Reilly Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the Director of the Office of Professional Practice at Purdue University.  He joined Purdue University as an Assistant Professor in 1994, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2000, to Full Professor in 2005 and to the Reilly Professorship in 2013.  He received his Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the University of the Ruhr in Bochum, Germany, in 1989 and a Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hannover, Germany, in 1994.   Professor Groll teaches Thermodynamics and his research focuses on the fundamental thermal sciences as applied to advanced HVAC&R systems, components, and their working fluids.  Since joining Purdue, he has been the principal investigator (PI) or Co-PI on more than 100 research grants and 46 educational grants with a total budget of approximately $10.5 million.  He has authored or co-authored 105 archival journal articles and 180 conference papers.  He has been the co-author of 3 book chapters and the editor or co-editor of 7 conference proceedings.   He holds 4 patents.  He has given 73 invited lectures/invited seminars and 11 keynote lectures.  He serves as the Regional Editor for the Americas for the International Journal of Refrigeration (IJR) and is a Fellow of ASHRAE.  Dr. Groll has been recognized for his academic leadership in higher education.  He is a 2010-2011 Fellow of the American Council on Education (ACE) and participated in the Academic Leadership Program of the Committee on Institutional Collaboration (CIC-ALP) during 2009-2010.  He has received numerous awards for his research and teaching excellence including the 2010 E. K. Campbell Award from ASHRAE, his induction into the Book of Great Teachers at Purdue University in 2008, and the 2007 Purdue University Faculty Scholar Award.