CO2LD: An innovation educational project for High Degree Professional Training in Refrigeration

Abstract

Refrigeration is one of the technology sectors that has sufered the most changes in the last twenty years, because of the negative impact of the fuids used in the refrigeration cycles, i.e., refrigerants, due to their impact on the ozone layer and their contribution to global warming. As a result of their negative efects, the European Union has established several directives to restrict the use of refrigerant fuids, and the sector therefore needs to adapt to the new regulations. This process of adaptation of the refrigeration sector to the new regulations must be carried out by all the agents involved, including those engaged in the training and education of the future refrigeration technicians. To allow this to be accomplished, a project called CO2LD was developed to introduce the future technology in High Degree Professional Training in Refrigeration. The objective of the project consisted in introducing more efcient and more sustainable refrigeration systems, namely R134a/CO 2 cascade cycles, into the Advanced Vocational Training in Refrigeration studies, and in creating a collaborative framework among students, secondary schools, refrigeration technicians, refrigeration companies, and the University in order to facilitate the transfer of know-how. This paper presents the objectives of the project, describes its development, and analyzes its main conclusions.