AHR Expo 2021 Innovation Awards Winners Announced

Nov. 5, 2020

Source: AHR Expo| International Exposition Company

WESTPORT, Conn -- The AHR Expo (International Air-Conditioning,

Heating, Refrigerating Exposition) today announced the winners of the 2021 AHR Expo Innovation Awards in ten industry categories. Show Management, co-sponsors ASHRAE and AHRI, and the Innovation Awards panel of judges wish to acknowledge and honor the

2021 award winners despite the recent cancellation of the live event. Typically, award winners are formally recognized at a ceremony hosted on day two of the annual Show. “The Innovation Awards are an exciting part of the AHR Expo and we are disappointed that we won’t be able to honor them in the same ways we would at a live Show,” said Show Manager, Mark Stevens. “Despite the challenges 2020 has presented, we are committed to recognizing the incredible innovators in our industry.”

Submissions were collected over the summer and then reviewed by a panel of third-party judges made up of distinguished ASHRAE members. Entrants are evaluated based on overall innovative design, creativity of the product or service offered, application, as well as potential market impact.

“HVACR as an industry is always changing in new and exciting ways at all professional levels,” continued Stevens. “Companies on the AHR Expo Show floor are listening to their stakeholders and developing new tools, products and services that make the industry more efficient, sustainable, smart, etc. Conversation is key and learning from each other at all levels within the industry is what drives innovation from year to year. We see it every year walking the exhibitor booths. It’s incredible.”

“We want to formally congratulate each of our 2021 AHR Expo Innovation Award winners, as well as finalists and all our entrants, for their continued leadership and contribution to HVACR,” said Stevens. “We look forward to seeing these innovators in the marketplace in the coming year, and in-person on the Show floor in 2022.”

The 2021 AHR Expo Innovation Award Winners and finalists were selected in ten industry categories, including building automation, cooling, green building, heating, indoor air quality, plumbing, refrigeration, software, tools and instruments, and ventilation.

BUILDING AUTOMATION

Winner: Infinitum Electric - Infinitum Electric IEq, a High-Efficiency Silicon Carbide VFD Innovation: Infinitum Electric’s IEq is an alternative solution to replace 30 year old insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) based VFDs. The high-efficiency silicon carbide (SiC) VFD offers a smaller, smarter, cooler and more efficient motor controller with integrated IoT capabilities in one single unit.

Introduction of VFDs allowed both commercial and industrial applications the ability to vary the speeds of fan, pump, or compressor applications. This led to a step-change improvement in the industry’s overall energy consumption. However, one limiting factor remained —the VFDs efficiency stagnated at ~88-94%.

Infinitum’s new Silicon Carbide IEq delivers the latest step-change improvements to motor control efficiency, size and packaging enabling OEMs and End-Users to deploy the technology in more varied environments. Additionally, it includes tightly integrated IoT sensors, for vibration, temperature, power, etc., a microcontroller and a one-way “data diode” IoT cellular modem gateway, which enables OEMs and end-users overseeing multiple facilities to more easily aggregate this data across thousands of installations, enabling deeper insights into the performance and reliability of their application. The on-board controller analyzes the high-speed IoT sensor data in real-time to provide

immediate predictive analytics back to end-users. This innovation allows a wide range of OEMs to rethink how they deploy VFDs in new ways not previously available.

Finalists in this category include: BrainBox AI - BrainBox AI Solution; Emerson - Verdant ZX Series Energy Management Thermostat