I recently had the pleasure of attending the 39th Mostra Convegno Expocomfort in the beautiful city of Milan, Italy, as the guest of Lennox Europe.
The Expo afforded Lennox the opportunity to launch their newly developed generation of aircooled roof-top packaged units.
Mostra Convegno Expocomfort (MCE) is a biannual international exhibition dedicated to heating airconditioning refrigeration, hardware, valves, sanitary technology, water treatment, tools and renewable sources of energy services.
Held this year from 18th to 21st March 2014, it comprised more than 2000 exhibitors, attracting 156,000 trade visitors from all over the world.
My first such exhibition in Europe, it was truly impressive, 22 massive halls displaying everything from the smallest valve, to the largest screw compressor available today and everything possible in between.
Every mayor manufacturer was on show, with the emphasis well and truly on energy savings.
Another interesting aspect was the advanced development of natural refrigerants. We can expect huge changes in this regard, within the foreseeable future.
Chilled beams attracted my attention, (particularly with retrofits and energy efficiency in mind) as did balancing valves incorporating intergrated flowmeters. (No more measuring instruments required).
Efficient magnet-free drive systems were on display, offering energy savings of 70% or more from speed-controlled motors, ranging from 0.55Kw to 45Kw.
The latest valve technology, sheet metal supplies and accessories, pre-insulated PVC piping, fittings, all were on display, with willing experts to assist in all languages.
Airconditioning manufacturers were extremely well represented, not only from Europe, but from India, China, Australia, Indonesia and many more. Every major roll-player was in attendance, many of them familiar to the local South African market.
M C E 2016 is a must visit for everyone in our industry. However, allow for a full three days at the exhibition itself, to take everything in.
You will definitely return with renewed respect for the size of our industry and the high level of technical advancement. Fortunately some of this does reach our part of the world (by means of the various local agents and suppliers) thus keeping us reasonably up to date with the latest developments. PATRICK BURKE RPM Consultant Engineers
