So how do you define refrigeration?!

A group of experts from the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) have been working together to establish common definitions of five words that characterise the refrigeration sector.

After more than a year of discussions, the organisations came to the agreement on the following definitions:

Cooling:

• Removal of heat, usually resulting in a lower temperature and/or phase change.
• Lowering temperature.

Refrigeration:

• Cooling of a space, substance or system to lower and/or maintain its temperature below the ambient one (removed heat is rejected at a higher temperature).
• Artificial cooling.

Chilling:

• Cooling of a substance without freezing it.

Freezing:

• Solidification phase change of a liquid or the liquid content of a substance, usually due to cooling.

Cold Chain:

• Series of actions and equipment applied to maintain a product within a specified low-temperature range from harvest/production to consumption.

The IIR’s Science and Technology Council officially endorsed the new definitions on February 8.

The head of the IIR’s Scientific and Technical Information Department, Jean-Luc Dupont, explains that it was important the differences that might exist in these definitions between the IIR and ASHRAE be erased for more consistency.

“It [is] important for us to reach even greater harmonisation on an international level in order to establish universal definitions,” he says.

The IIR now calls on all national and regional organisations and associations to adopt and disseminate these definitions. The Institute plans to adopt these definitions in all its publications, and will promote them at the International Congress of Refrigeration from August 24–30 in Montreal, Canada.