Danfoss USA announces EnVisioneer awards
26th October 2023
USA: Danfoss USA has announced the winners of its 2023 EnVisioneer of the Year competition for North American companies using Danfoss products.
This year’s awards saw ThermalWorks, Polar Engineering and Weis Markets among the top honours in a new, expanded format.
Launched in 2010, the annual EnVisioneer of the Year award competition recognises North American original equipment manufacturers, building owners, municipalities, contractors and end users that have introduced a new product, opened a new facility or invested in a building or system upgrade in the past 18 months using Danfoss products or solutions to realise significant energy and environmental savings.
ThermalWorks, based in Bloomingburg, New York, was the winner in the OEM category for its advanced waterless cooling system. The company built a modular, efficient, waterless chiller for the data centre industry using state-of-the-art Danfoss products, including its oil-free Turbocor compressors.
The scalable system features a chilled water circuit design that rejects heat in stages – free cooling, partial free cooling, high temperature mechanical and low temperature mechanical – with one integrated unit. In addition to using no water, energy use is greatly reduced, resulting in lower carbon emissions and low PUE values.
Polar Engineering, based in Victoria, British Columbia, was the Engineering Consultant category winner. Its R513 high-temperature heat pump, built by Fraser Valley Refrigeration using Danfoss solenoid, isolation, and electronic expansion valves, including the Colibri EEV, helped reduce natural gas usage at the Juan de Fuca Recreation Center by 90%. As part of an energy recovery system, the heat pump recaptures waste heat from the ammonia refrigeration system on site and uses it to offset the boiler loop load of the facility, resulting in an annual savings 284 tons of carbon emissions and $22,000 in fuel costs.
Pennsylvania-based Weis Markets, the End User category winner, installed a CO2 refrigeration system at its new store in Warminster, Pennsylvania. The Danfoss AK-SM 880A controller, with its communications modules, sensors, cables and valves, monitors for leaks and ensures that temperatures remain stable at desired levels. In the first four months of operation, refrigeration energy consumption was over 100,000 kWh less than at a comparable store with traditional refrigeration, saving an estimated $11,000.
