Ian Ramsay RIP
23rd January 2019
UK: Ian Ramsay, developer of the indispensable Micro-pipe and Micro-calc refrigeration software, passed away on Monday after a short illness. He was 74.
A Fellow of the Institute of Refrigeration, Ian’s career in refrigeration spanned more than 50 years, after starting his career as a precision tool maker.
Ian began his refrigeration industry career at Toomey’s in the south of England, followed by a move to Yorkshire in the early 1970’s. From here Ian worked as a commissioning engineer and latterly a design engineer which culminated in leading the engineering team at Southern and Redfearn in Bradford.
He later moved to Pennine where he quickly established himself as a process cooling expert, before entering the retail refrigeration arena working in senior engineering positions at Prestcold, WM Allen, Linde and latterly Badminton Jackson Associates.
In the early 1980s, using his extensive refrigeration experience and knowledge, he began to develop White Rose Software, known throughout the industry as Micro-pipe and Micro-calc. These distributed pipework system design tools negated the need for design engineers to rely on charts – which are notoriously difficult to design with any degree of confidence in respect to pressure loss, velocity, reliability and efficiency.
MicroPipe and MicroCalc are now considered by the majority of consultants, designers and food retailers, to be the standard design tools for the refrigeration industry.
Close friend, James Bailey of Wave Refrigeration, who described Ian Ramsay as “the smartest man I was ever honoured to know,” is collating condolences for those wishing to share their memories of Ian. He can be contacted here.
The funeral and memorial service will be held at Skipton Crematorium on Thursday February 7 at 13:20.
