2023 Sep-Oct RETA Breeze

A CONFERENCE SNEAK PEEK

THE HISTORY OF REFRIGERATION: VOLUME 1

THE ENHANCED MEB—SO MUCH MORE THAN A PSM DOCUMENT Mark Malagon Material and Energy Balances are extremely useful tools. If you’re not convinced now, an hour with Mark will leave you a true believer. Mark’s whitepaper and accompanying presentation will outline the importance of using the Material and Energy Balance to its best effect. The Material and Energy Balance, or MEB, is often one of the most overlooked and underutilized documents in a PSM Program. The MEB is required by PSM regulations, but most MEBs are done with little detail in an effort to “check the box.” What does a great MEB look like, and what else can it be used for besides checking the compli ance box? This paper will explore the bones of a great MEB and discuss the plethora of simple additions which can be used to transform it from a stagnant document to an engineering tool. The baseline MEB is a calculation of the system balance at design conditions. Normally this involves simply adding up loads and subtracting them from capacities. But industrial refrigeration systems are often designed with safety factors and redundancy, or on the contrary they are overtaxed due to higher than anticipated production loads. In either case, the system is rarely running at the design conditions shown in an MEB. By including the mass flow and a system balance of actual operating conditions, a tremendous amount of additional informa tion can be extracted from an MEB. With energy efficiency on the minds of most corporations, and consequently most facility managers and operators, the Enhanced MEB is crucial for planning upgrades, expansions, and energy reduction projects. If a system is not operating at design conditions, then the backup capacity and total available capacity listed on a design MEB is not very useful for planning. Secondary equipment such as pumps and vessels often get overlooked in a high-level system balance, but more detailed analysis can be used to ensure all components of the system are operating withing safe and efficient ranges. By using several existing refrigerated facilities as the basis for research, this paper will give concrete examples of how this information can be applied to improve operations and performance. The results will display significant system advancements easily identified through the Enhanced MEB. An MEB is already required, why not use it to its full potential? “

Vern Sanderson & Doug Siegert Vern has a saying “you can’t figure out where you’re going, until you know where you’ve been”. This presentation looks at some of the people and events of the early days of refrigeration. Vern refers to it as our “classic era”. I think Doug would argue that our next era will be our classic era, but regardless the early days of refrigeration are full of interesting people and events. Vern has a unique style of presenting information pertain ing to people like they are close friends and events as if we were all there. If you haven’t had an opportunity to listen to a Doug presentation, you’re in for a treat. Doug is a seasoned compliance profes sional with a great perspective. He entered the refrigeration industry after having attained a wealth of compliance knowledge. This has given him a much different perspective on the history of refrigeration. This will be Doug’s first presentation at RETA, you’ll like his style. Some of the behind-the-scenes facts that they have uncovered are great stories all on their own. But when inserted into the refrigeration timeline, these stories tell “THE story of early refrigeration.” If they don’t mention it, ask Doug and Vern about the experimental days of condensers. Oh, and ask about Thaddeus Lowe’s cat. Oh, oh, oh, and ask about Fredrick Tudor’s sister. And the Ice train, don’t forget to ask about the ice train……

CHAPTER LEADERS ROUND TABLE Dan Denton The power of RETA is the RETA family; shared experiences, trials, tribulations, and successes. Our Chapter leaders facilitate this experience at the chapter level. The Chapter Leaders Round Table is the family reunion of the year. Come join us. This workshop is for all current, past, and potential Chapter Leaders. The agenda includes an open discussion on issues relevant to running a Chapter, including but not limited to: Review of annual reporting procedures Building attendance strategies How to find a Chapter meeting Speakers Chapter Startup Q&A Operations Guidelines Manual Additional topics that arise Any and all additional sugges tions for the information hour are welcome. If you are, was, or would like to be, a chapter officer, or are just looking for food, this is a great session for you.

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