The 22nd IIR International Congress of Refrigeration (ICR2007), held in Beijing on August 21^st – 26th 2007, was a great success: 1308 participants from 55 countries attended this key event during which 876 papers on all refrigeration technologies and applications were presented. Eleven technical tours, 5 short courses and a rich programme enabling participants to visit Beijing and the surrounding regions were also arranged.

 

The themes that attracted the most interest during this congress with an apt overarching theme, Refrigeration Creates the Future, were the following: new developments in natural refrigerants, with a focus on CO2 (new components for CO2 systems, use in cascade or transcritical cycles or as a secondary refrigerant, etc.); enhancement of the energy efficiency of refrigeration systems (new developments in compressors, optimization of heat transfer, mini- and microchannel exchangers, phasechange materials, etc.); new trends in air conditioning (indoor air quality, thermal comfort, etc.), heat pumps, absorption and adsorption technologies, cryogenics, gas liquefaction and separation.

IIR awards were also presented at ICR2007: the Gustav Lorentzen Medal was awarded to Prof. Alexey Arkharov, Prof. Fritz Steimle was awarded the Medal of Merit, the Science and Technology Medal was awarded to Mr Walter Castle, among others. In conjunction with the congress, the IIR also held its statutory meetings, during which the IIR’s Science and Technology Council and Management Committee were renewed. Prof. Henk van der Ree (Netherlands) was elected President of the General Conference, Prof. Joachim Paul (Denmark) was elected President of the Executive and Management Committees, and Dr David Tanner (New Zealand) was elected President of the Science and Technology Council. The next IIR International Congress of Refrigeration will be held in Prague, Czech Republic, on August 21^st - 26^th, 2011, reveals the organization’s press release.