City hosts successful 11th International Conference on Compressors and their Systems

The Centre for Compressor Technology at City, University of London, organised and hosted the International Conference on Compressors and their Systems from September 11^th to 13^th 2019.

The biennial event - and the 11th conference in the series - has become a flagship event for City. It is anticipated by academics and professionals in the field from around the world.

This year the conference was supported by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR), and the Institute of Refrigeration (IOR) and was sponsored by Holroyd PTG, Howden , Kapp Niles, Vert Rotors, FeTu, Samputensili , Megger and CompressorTech2.

City’s President, Professor Sir Paul Curran, welcomed delegates to the conference on 9^th September, emphasizing the importance of the Conference to the University’s overall strategic plan.

Chaired by Professor Ahmed Kovacevic, Howden Chair in Engineering Design and Compressor Technology, the conference was attended by 255 registered delegates from 24 countries. The conference technical program was managed by Dr Matthew Read - a colossal task to achieve alongside the review process of over a hundred research papers.

Peer-reviewed papers

Ninety-six of these papers were presented in parallel sessions during the first two days of the conference. Eighty-five (85) of these papers were published by the renowned Institute of Physics’ (IOP) Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, and 11 published by the Journal of Process Mechanical Engineering which publishes high-quality, peer-reviewed papers covering a broad area of mechanical engineering activities associated with the design and operation of process equipment.

Each day a keynote speech was delivered by highly sought after experts in their respected areas. On the first conference day, Professor Andreas Brummer talked about “Leakage Losses in Twin Screw Machines”. Professor Yunho Hwang challenged his audience with the talk on “Compression without Compressors” and Professor Mehrdad Zangeneh gave a keynote on the Industry day about the design system for centrifugal chillers with low GWP refrigerants.

The Conference Gala Dinner on the first day was held at Royal Horseguards Hotel. The guest speaker at the conference gala dinner was Baroness Brown of Cambridge, Julia King. She talked about the challenges of addressing climate change. The topic resonates with everyone in the compressor industry as we focus on design and development of efficient machines.

At the second day social event held at St Bart’s Brewery, three awards were presented:

Best Technical Paper Award presented to Tadayoshi Shoyama et al., Panasonic Corporation, Japan (received from the Chief Executive of IMechE);

Best Student Paper awarded to Xinye Zhang et al. from Purdue University (received from David Paget, Chair of the Technical Committee of the Institute of Refrigeration)

Best Student Presentation awarded to Christian Stoeckel from TU Dresden (received from the Prof Eckhard Groll, William E. and Florence E. Perry Head of Mechanical Engineering Purdue University).

The 3rd day of the conference was dedicated to industrial presentations where eight world leading experts talked about their journey and industrial challenges faced.

Multiphase flows

The conference was preceded by the 4th Short Course/Forum on Computational Fluid Dynamics in Positive Displacement Compressors, from 7th-8th September, organised by Dr Sham Rane, attracting 55 delegates from industry and academia. There were 16 presentations and some of the papers were published by Journal MDPI in their Special Issue on CFD in rotary positive displacement machines.

This year, the theme of the course was on the speed and efficiency in calculating multiphase flows in rotating machinery using CFD and lower order models. Attendees benefited from many experts from around the world about advances in grid generation, modelling of leakage flows and conjugate heat transfer, latest tools, new techniques, etc.

City’s Professor Ahmed Kovacevic, Howden Chair in Engineering Design and Compressor Technology, said:

"The biennial International Conference on Compressors and their Systems has become one of the main meeting hubs for industry and academia in the field of compressors and their systems. The latest UK Government legislation on zero emissions brings new challenges to reducing the environmental impact of compressor systems which consume more than 17% of the electrical energy generated worldwide. We are very proud that this 11^th event in the series of conferences attracted over 300 delegates to discuss and address this important issue.

These events help to raise the profile of City, University of London and position our Centre for Compressor Technology as one of the main international hubs for the continuous improvement of positive displacement rotating machines."

The conference provided an opportunity for our staff and students from the Thermofluids Research Centre to showcase their work in the form of poster presentations, and, in line with City’s strategic priorities for being research intensive and student centred, the conference also connected academics with companies for future work placements for students.