by Brianna Crandall — February 5, 2016—Last week, the “product of the year” award was announced from among the 10 category winners of the 2016 AHR Expo Innovation Awards. The awards were presented by leaders of the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and the International Exposition Company (IEC) at the 2016 Air-Conditioning, Heating, Refrigerating Exposition (AHR Expo) in Orlando, Florida.
Aeroseal’s duct-sealing technology was honored with the “product of the year” accolade, and lauded as offering “a groundbreaking solution to an industry-wide problem.” With this new technology, Aeroseal has provided the industry’s first alternative to traditional manual duct-sealing products. The aerosol-based solution works from the inside of ventilation shafts to “seek” and bond-seal targeted leaks, rather than coating the entire inside of the shaft with sealant.
Aeroseal’s duct-sealing technology works from inside the shaft to find and seal leaks, fixing critical ventilation issues.
The technology, developed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and others, works from inside the shaft to find and seal leaks. This duct-sealing technology has been employed to fix critical ventilation issues in numerous buildings and facilities, including hospitals and multi-story apartment buildings.
Aeroseal’s solution, which eliminates the need to disrupt or destroy current construction, provides much-anticipated relief to HVAC contractors, for whom accessing exhaust shafts in existing buildings was previously difficult, if not impossible, without major demolition, notes the announcement.
Listed by category, the 2016 AHR Expo Innovation Award winners and their innovations are:
- Building Automation: Accutrol, for the Accutrol AVC Fume Hood Control System
- Cooling: Parker Hannifin — Sporlan Division, for ZoomLine Flexible Tubing
- Green Building: International Wastewater Systems Inc., for the Piranha Wastewater Heat Recovery Heat Pump
- Heating: Victaulic, for Victaulic Grooved System for Saturated Steam Piping
- Indoor Air Quality: SEMCO, for the ASCENDANT conventional cooling, active desiccant hybrid system
- Plumbing: SEMCO, for the NEUTON controlled chilled beam pump module
- Refrigeration: CAREL INDUSTRIES, for HEOS Sistema
- Software: Plasma Air International, for PlasmaSoft 2.0 IAQ Procedure Software
- Tools and Instruments: Parker Hannifin — Sporlan Division, for ZoomLock Braze-Free Fittings
- Ventilation: Aeroseal, for Aeroseal duct-sealing technology
The judging panel recognized an additional 33 products and technologies with honorable mentions. For photos and descriptions of the winners, as well as a listing of the honorable mentions in each category, visit the 2016 AHR Innovation Awards Winners page.
