Professor: Prof.ir. H. van der Ree

The purpose of indoor climate control is to create a comfortable climate for people and optimal conditions for products and processes. Furthermore, this field covers the prevention of pollution of the environment by means of particle separation from exhaust gases of certain processes and from the air inside production plants.

In the past the only goal was to attain an agreeable indoor climate and less attention was given to the energy consumption to meet this goal. However, nowadays energy saving is an important issue, as it will be in the future, and the field of indoor climate control can contribute a lot to this. It is estimated that of the national energy demand some 30% is being used in domestic, industrial and commercial buildings.

The aim is to design indoor climate control installations that provide for the desired degree of comfort at a minimum energy consumption level while keeping capital costs acceptably low.

The section for Refrigeration Technology and Indoor Climate Control focusses on the development of climate control installations that demand only a small amount of energy by adjusting intelligently to the variations of the outdoor climate. Predicting control methods play a major role in this context.

Refrigeration engineering is needed for the creation of low temperatures to conserve food and to maintain particular conditions in industrial processes and the indoor climate.

On a global scale, refrigeration engineering is indispensable when processing, storing, transporting and distributing many products. In the western world refrigeration technology is fully integrated in society, while developing countries are far behind in this respect. Because of global environmental problems concerning the ozone layer and the greenhouse effect, there are currently many research programmes being carried out to replace existing refrigerants and to improve the quality of the cold producing machinery. The wide field of the refrigeration technology involves a wide range of appliances.

This field of science also contains the subject of heat pumps by which space heating can be provided while saving large amounts of energy. This technology could be more economical when energy prices are high. Special attention is given to thermally driven heat pumps; these make use of for instance solar heat, industrial waste heat or cogeneration heat.

Indoor climate control and refrigeration engineering are treated in five lectures of the main course, two of which are mandatory. For a major, one can choose between indoor climate control and refrigeration engineering. This choice also decides what lectures have to be taken.

The research staff maintains many good contacts with the industry and institutes in the Netherlands and abroad. Graduation projects are often carried out in connection with these; but they can also be done within the research programme of the section. Furthermore, there are excellent opportunities for students that apply for technical marketing, thanks to the good contacts of this group and the relevancy for society that is involved.

Within the section colloquia are held on a regular basis; in these sessions, students can treat their own subjects and PhD students their work, while from time to time speakers from outside our institute are invited to discuss a special subject.

Moreover, the student organization arranges excursions to domestic and international (every second year) institutes and companies working within our field.