by Schuurmans, who started trading under the name Heat Pump International cc |
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— a company registered by him in 1986. |
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“ So technically we are 30 years old, but |
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Les assures me that it was 21 years ago |
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that the company started doing what it is |
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doing now. Anyway, it’ s a good reason to |
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celebrate— be it 30 or 21 years.” |
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“ Schuurmans is a true entrepreneur |
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and has founded more companies than |
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even he can remember and I admire |
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him for that,” said Dave Kloot.“ When I |
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think of what goes into actually running a |
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company, I would rather herd cats than |
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start up a company from scratch.” |
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When you break |
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a commitment |
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you could very |
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well destroy a relationship. |
He went on to reminisce,“ Until Arthur Johnson introduced us to scroll compressors, many of our packages |
electronic controllers have all improved the performance efficiency of our equipment and sharpened our prices to be more |
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would leave the factory with up to eight |
competitive. Whatever changes we have |
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semi-hermetic compressors. Most or nearly |
made have been in accordance with |
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In 1996, Turnbull decided to go out on his own and formed his company, Aircon Sales and Engineering. He maintained strong links with HPI as he has been acting as its agent ever since.“ Turnbull’ s input to the company over the years has been invaluable, and has in no small way helped to shape the company into what it is today. To our regret, Pete has decided to retire from the industry at the end of 2016 and we wish him well.”
“ Heat Pump International owes a debt of gratitude to both these great men, Harry and Pete,” Dave Kloot concluded his speech.
Driven by technology“ The change to scroll compressors had a major impact on the design, manufacture and future development of our product range of packaged roof top units and air handling units,” said Les Kloot as he addressed the guests.
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all of our packages now only have two scroll compressors, have a much lower power usage, and cooling capacity is closely matched to the load. With the large capacity scrolls now available, even our largest units only need two scrolls and have standby capacity. Having only two compressors has reduced manufacturing time, the number of pipe joints, and the potential source of leaks.”
Les Kloot went on to recall how changes in product and design have evolved around changes in available technology. An ongoing drive to remain competitive has been the catalyst to tinker with technology.“ We started testing the actual performance of compressors and found it to differ from published data. We then relooked at our selections. In 2011, the change to R410A meant that we could have smaller condensers. A swing to electronic expansion valves, the addition of variable speed drives, and compact
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the recommendations of the equipment suppliers.”
Part of the philosophy of the company has been to contribute towards academic research. As a University of Cape Town( UCT) graduate, Les Kloot has maintained a close relation with UCT. Each year, HPI has an engineering student do their practical thesis at its factory. One such project was to develop a single piece sub-cooler / receiver / accumulator. With this device, none of the heat transfer capacity of an evaporator needs to be wasted on superheat to prevent liquid return to the compressor.
At the celebration, guests were taken on a guided tour of the factory and had a demonstration of a packaged unit to be despatched to a hospital in Mpumalanga. The working of Les Kloot’ s test rig, which has been used by many postgraduate students, was also shown to the visitors. CLA
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1. Les Kloot proudly demonstrated his test rig.
2. Gosain Lutta of Colcab with Harry Schuurmans.
3. From left: Pete Turnbull with Gamiel Isaacs( HPI) and Craig Boswell( Two Oceans Air Conditioning).
4. Scroll compressors are now a standard feature in all Heat Pump International products.
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