Presentations made by DurkeeSox, Advantix and Evapco

Best Pro, which represents DurkeeSox, Advantix and Evapco in the region, organised a seminar entitled ‘Innovative products and solutions for today’s market’, jointly for the three companies, with a focus on conservation. Held at Airport Le Meridien on November 22, it reportedly served as a backdrop for launching three new products – Fabric Air Dispersion System, Liquid Dessicant Air Conditioner and Evaporative Cooling Systems, from DurkeeSox, Advantix and Evapco respectively. The seminar comprised presentations by experts from the three companies.

The first presentation representing DurkeeSox was made by Marian Pengyan Han of BestPro and Melly Qing Yang, Director, DurkeeSox. It was called, ‘The Visible Channel to IAQ’. With 1,400 projects in the past five years, across 30 countries, DurkeeSox said that its clients included Carrefour, Bayer, Nestle, Kraft and Danone. It also specialises in stadium projects.

Describing the Fabric Air Dispersion System, the presenters listed the product’s three salient features: hygienic, simple and economical.

The presentation elaborated the other product features and advantages:

• With a weight of three per cent of GI weight and 10% of GI installation time, the product was condensation-free and, therefore, ideal for places with high humidity.
• It is quiet and absorbs noise.
• It can be personalised for clients.
• It is inherently fire retardant.
• It saves energy.
• It can survive 2000pa and, is, therefore, long-lasting.
• It is cheaper.
• It is ‘green’.
• It is washable.

The second presentation, made by Trevor Wende, Vice President, Marketing, Advantix Systems, was entitled, ‘Smarter simultaneous dehumidifying and cooling equipment’. Headquartered in Miami, USA, Advantix Systems is claimed to have pioneered the technology for cooling and dehumidification of ice rinks in the early 1980s. It won AHRI’s Most Innovative Cooling Product Award in 2011, and claims to have developed a technology that combines conventional air conditioning knowhow with its own technology, to cool the air to beat the humidity and heat in two different ways in one system. It is said to achieve this by pushing the air through a mixture of warm and moist salt that absorbs large amounts of water vapour.

Wende situated his presentation in the region by pointing out that in most buildings in Dubai, fresh outdoor air was limited to nine per cent, which was unhealthy. One way to solve the problem was the Liquid Dessicant Air Conditioner, which saves energy, controls humidity and cleans the air, he informed.

Making a detailed technical presentation, the speaker listed the following:

Areas with high-ventilation requirements:

• Hotels and restaurants
• Health care areas and clean rooms
• Schools
• Auditoriums

Areas with low dew point requirements:

• Supermarkets
• Operating rooms
• Pharmaceutical production
• Painting, printing and plastic moulding facilities
• Cold/dry storage rooms
• Ice rinks

Areas with high internal humidity requirements:

• Indoor pools
• Food processing units
• Health clubs

Discussing the problem of dealing with humidity, the presenter pointed out that off-the-shelf equipment was ineffective, as it overcooled the air using traditional vapour and compression equipment. Dedicated systems/ DOAS, too, overcooled and had packaged hot gas reheat, and were expensive. In this scenario, thermodynamic shortcut air conditioning technology was deemed the best option as takes one directly to the target zone, cutting air conditioning workloads by half or more. It avoids the ‘rework’ of conventional and solid dessicant systems, the presenters explained, and added, “It also eliminates maintenance of intensive components like air filters, evaporation coils, pans and condensate removal systems.”

The third presentation was by Evapco. Founded in 1976, it specialises in heat transfer products and services, with six full R&D facilities in Maryland, USA, reportedly the largest in the cooling industry. The company serves the Middle East region from Europe, specifically from Belgium. Entitled ‘Advanced products for heat rejection in water cooled system’ the presentation was made by Georges Hoeterickx, Director, Business Development, Evapco Europe, and Chad Nagle, Managing Director, Evapco Europe, claimed that all the company’s cooling towers were CTI certified, and had an efficient heat transfer system, low source and low energy possibility and entailed simplified rigging and maintenance. The presenters also provided a technical overview on cooling towers.