The January 2011 meeting was a follow-up with the McMaster engineering students many of which attended the Sept 2010 meeting. It was held Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at Kelsey’s Restaurant which was walking distance from Mac. The topic was Net-Zero Energy Building Design – a design for a new building at Mac. The featured speakers were a number of students involved on a design project. The McMaster University ASHRAE Student Chapter and Hamilton ASHRAE Chapter are combining their talents to design a Net-Zero Energy Building (NZEB) on the McMaster’s campus. The building design will be incorporated into the Mechanical Engineering Department’s final year project. The presentation was followed by a lengthy discussion to identify areas where our chapter members can support the student members on this undertaking. John Molnar made all the arrangements. The restaurant inflated their meal cost with unexpected extras hence chapter lost a bundle! We will find a better place to meet.
The February meeting was at the RHYC Tuesday, February 8, 2011. The topic was Air-To-Air Energy Recovery. The Featured Speaker was Klas Haglid, P.E., R.A. who discussed Building Performance Equipment.. Klas has served as Chairman of two ASHRAE Technical Committees – 5.5 Air-to-Air Energy Recovery and 7.8 Owning and Operating Costs. As an active ASHRAE
The March Chapter meeting was held Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at our usual location, the RHYC. The topic was Digital Capacity Modulation from Emerson. The speaker covered the new Emerson Digital compressor technology and electronic control valves which are transforming the way the industry is improving human comfort, safeguarding food and protecting the environment. It also covered Emerson’s Digital Capacity Modulation Solution and how digital compressor technology can simplify system architecture and provide capacity modulation from 10 to 100%.” The Speaker was Andre Patenaude, C.E.T., Director of Marketing Emerson Climate Technologies. Andre Patenaude joined the Flow Controls (formerly Alco) division of Emerson in 1984 as a mechanical engineering technologist. George Menzies gave an update regarding the ASHRAE Winter Meeting/Trade Show in Las Vegas.
The April 2011 meeting was a joint meeting with the Toronto Chapter Monday, April 4, 2011 at Otello’s Banquet & Conference Centre 2273 Royal Windsor Drive, Oakville, ON. Hamilton Chapter held their Board meeting prior to the dinner. The topic was HVAC Healthcare Design. The technical presentation addressed the fundamentals and basic knowledge of cleanrooms and HVAC systems design. The Featured Speaker was Wei Sun, P.E. Principal & Director of Engineering, Engsysco, Inc.
Again this year on April 21, 2011 a Webcast was available for ASHRAE members. It was a a free webcast sponsored by ASHRAE and covered “Ground Source Heat PumpSystems—Putting the Earth To Work for You”. Some 11,000 worldwide watched the broadcast
The Tuesday, May 10, 2011 meeting was once again in the Waterloo area at the Grand Valley Golf Club. The topic was Modeling for Grants with two speakers from Enermodal Engineering: Renee Baker & Antoni Paleshi. Renee Baker has a Diploma in Architectural Technology from Mohawk College in Hamilton and has worked within Enermodal’s energy modeling group since 2006. She has used EE4 and eQUEST to analyse energy performance for approximately 50 buildings and is among Enermodal’s most experienced energy analysts. Paleshi has a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo. Antoni specializes in the simulation and evaluation of building energy conservation measures and has also provided analysis of building durability and environmental life-cycle impacts for a variety of building types. Prior to the dinner there was a technical session presented by Rick Lawlor and Raoul Gautreau, from the CGC Group. They discussed high-efficiency hybrid heat pumps.
June 2011: The next event in the year was on annual golf day. It returned to Niagara Falls to the Legends On The Niagara. However, our usual 2nd Wednesday date had a conflict so the Tournament was moved to the 3rd Wednesday of June (June 15th,2011), which turned out to be a blessing – we didn’t conflict with the London or Toronto Golf Tournaments that were played in the 2nd week in June. And again we had an unbelievable streak of 20/21 years where it was sunny and hot. Again David Rasmussen ran the tournament and it gets more efficient every year. The day June 15th, 2011 was a record 29C and we had a record 120 Golfers so the date selected proved to be ideal. Again a Scramble format was used implementing a 4 drive per person requirement to keep the game challenging. The foursome consisting of Sergio Pinto, Doug Bastell, Steven Sheppard, Carlos Raposo won with a score of 8 under Par. The Ladies Longest Drive was won by Christie Martin, the Men’s Longest Drive was won by Chapter Member Nathan Martin (No relation to Christie Martin). Many expressed a need to leave ASAP due to Game #7 between Boston and Vancouver in hockey. Prizes and Supper were completed in record time and all departed by 7:45pm – the earliest ever!!!. A first ever “Leaderboard” was run by George Menzies rather than have a research hole, and it proved successful.
The year ends with the chapter collecting a record $9250 contributed to research promotion, the best in 5 years. We had 88 chapter members vs. 82 the previous year. Society membership was up by 5 to 222 on July 1st, 2011. Area assigned membership was 217 on July 2010 and 219 in July 2009. Our DRC Guy Perreault from Quebec City resigned late in June just before the Society Annual Meeting and was replaced with Isabella Lavoie, a member of the Montreal chapter and current Chair of the Society Membership Promotion Committee – an excellent choice.
The Society Board of Directors approved the new Student Branch at McMaster this June and the charter is dated July 14th, 2011. Dr. Cotton is the branch advisor.
The summer summit was held at Mike Krewski’s home in Waterloo July 20, 2011. Several positions still needed to be filled. Mike is returning for his second term and will have the challenge to match his successes this past year. Four chapter members will be attending the CRC in Quebec City in late August. Mike is the Chapter Delegate with Reaz Usmanali as Chapter Alternate. With monthly chapter meetings now being moved around within the chapter assigned area, the executive decided to drop the meal plan. Other costs were left as is.
2011-2012 ASHRAE Year
The first chapter meeting of the new year was held Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at McMaster University, home of our student branch. The featured speaker wasNeil Rampersad, P.Eng., of Siemens Canada an Account Executive for Building Automation at Siemens Building Technologies. He discussed the Smart Grid & Facilities of the Future.The topic covered the convergence over the past few years of Mechanical, IT and Electrical Consultants; What does it all mean? Where are we headed? Why do Mechanical Engineers need to become well versed in IT of all things? He commented that IT has revolutionized the consumer products industry and it has already started to change the Facilities and Mechanical landscape with BACnet and other integration protocols.
The evening included a presentation of the 2nd half of the ASHRAE Reuben Trane Scholorship won by Ben Oliver, a McMaster Mechanical Engineering student.
In the Sept Airways, our Social chair David Rasmussen submitted a picture of the Leaderboard at the used at the June golf tournament which was continuously updated by George Menzies. It was very accurate and gave players a chance to see where they stood in relation to the rest of the groups. Congratulations to Sergio Pinto’s 4some – coming in at minus 8!
The Chapter Executive at the beginning of the Sept 2011 new year consisted of President Mike Krewski
President–Elect Reaz Usmanali; Research Chair David Rasmussen, C.E.T.Treasurer Iain Hill, LEED AP SecretaryJohn Freeman, EIT, LEED AP Membership Chair John Molnar, B.Eng., LEED AP Student Activities ChairVacant Mike Krewski (acting chair) Historian George Menzies, Social Chair David Rasmussen and also Reg 2 RP Vice-Chair, C.E.T. C.T.T.C. / T.E.G.A. Chair Reaz Usmanali, LEED AP; C.T.T.C. /Programs/Refrigeration ChairJohn Molnar, B.Eng., Board of Governors: David Hills; Wilf Laman; and Wm. McCartney who was also Chair of the Society’s Handbook committee. George Menzies also had a Society job as Chair of the Society historical Committee. Homepage & Airways Editor Allan Antcliffe, P.Eng. Board of Governors W.Laman
The October meeting was held October 18th, 2011 at the Grand Valley Golf Club 1910 Roseville Road, Cambridge, ON. The topic was Energy Recovery Design, Specification & AHRI 1060. The speaker Nathan Martin of O’Dell Associates based his talk on the following questions:With growing demand for increased efficiency in ventilation air delivery, energy recovery devices are becoming a standard component of a building’s overall HVACsystem. But how should these devices be designed and specified to ensure the building will operate as intended? What are OACF and EATR and why are they important to theowner, engineer and contractor? When is it necessary to use heat recovery cores overa more efficient energy recovery wheel? Nathan asked the questionsand covered many other concepts in regards to energy recovery design & specification,including a detailed overview of AHRI 1060.
Nathan graduated from the University of Waterloo in 2001 with a B.A.Sc. degree in Mechanical Eng. He was enrolled in the co-operative education program where he gained experience in the building industry working at both CFMS (a commissioning agent) and Stantec Consulting. Upon graduation, Nathan returned to the buildings division at Stantec, where he worked as a consulting engineer in both the Kitchener and Hamilton offices. He is a member of the Chapter as well.
Chapter Historian submitted an obit for a former Hamilton Chapter Member. Duncan Worthington who passed away recently. He was a member of the ASHRAE chapter for many years in the 60s and 70s died on May 12, 2011, in his 81st year.
The November meeting was held Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at the Black Bull Restaurant on Guelph Line in Burlington, ON. The speaker was Dr. James (Jim) Cotton, P.Eng., Associate Professor Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, McMaster University. Dr. Jim Cotton is a leading expert in the emerging field of thermal energy recovery, storage and electrohydrodynamics. His research focuses on developing, modeling and experimentally validating devices to advance efficient thermal management solutions and combined heat and power systems, which include vehicle and commercial /industrial applications. Jim is also the Student Advisor for the newly created McMaster Student ASHRAE Chapter. He covered the topic:Waste Heat Recovery from Pizza Restaurants.
December 2011; The annual December / Christmas Event Past President / Ladies’ Night was held Thursday December 8th, 2011 and involved a murder mystery. It was held at the Trocadero Restaurant, Barton St. E., in Hamilton, at a cost of $50 per person. The theme was that you were cordially invited to “Big Al’s Birthday Party”. It would be a crime if it wasn’t well organized! You met “Torchy”, “Lightfingers”, “Einstein” and “The Fixer”. If all went as planned, everyone would have a great time. Unfortunately, things don’t always go as planned! Someone may get murdered! Perhaps Chapter President Mike Krewski – what would his newlywed wife, Liz, say? What if it’s organizer David Rasmussen – who would run the Golf Tournament in June? Please don’t let it be Trocadero owner, Lois Pantalone! We have to eat that night and it would be a crime to miss a meal!
The Airways also contained a Historical Bio on a company called Engineered Air which was submitted by Historian George Menzies: Engineered Air was formed in 1966. Sales in the first year were over $90,000. Their goal was to custom design and manufacture as well as use innovative marketing programs which proved to be highly successful – sales quickly grew to $6,000,000 by 1976.Today the company continues to gain respect as one of Canada’s top custom HVAC equipment manufacturers. Engineered Air continues to forge ahead with this customized manufacturing approach while many other manufacturers opt for standardization. This policy resulted in expanding sales and the need for the addition of more design and manufacturing capacity. The development of new products along with acquisitions fueled their continued success with sales increasing by 600% to $36,000,000 by 1986. By the 90’s the company expanded their market horizons through the purchase of “AIRTEX Radiant Systems” and “QDT Heat Pipe”. The addition of these innovative products, combined with the opening of a Desoto, Kansas manufacturing plant and an United States head office, resulted in a yearly sales approaching $200,000,000. Engineered Air did not consider this position a plateau, but rather in keeping with their corporate goals, they viewed this as a ridge leading on to the twenty first century. Today, the company has sold more than two billion dollars of custom HVAC equipment and is aggressively expanding in the HVAC market place. At present, the company employs over 65 graduate Engineers and 105 Technicians with a total work force that exceeds 1,300. It has always been Don Taylor, the CEO’s, goal to employ people not machines. In keeping with this strategy, plant expansions will add to these employment totals while adding to the overall ability to increase the investment in the company. Engineered Air operates manufacturing plants in Edmonton, AB, in Newmarket, ON, 3 in Desoto, Kansas, the USA head office, and 4 in Calgary, AB, the Canadian head office. They have 14 sales offices in the United States and 12 sales offices in Canada. They are supported by factory trained technicians to ensure that their products meet a client’s expectations. Engineered Air supports and contributes to most of the Region 2 chapters, ASHRAE research programs, ASHRAE membership activities as well as technical schools and universities throughout North America.