EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
WorldSkills SA winners
crowned at national competition
By Ilana Koegelenberg
The 2019 national WorldSkills SA (WSSA) competition took place in Durban from 23 to 25 February,
where among all the other skills, six refrigeration artisans battled it out for the opportunity to represent
their country at the 2019 Kazan, Russia, international competition in August.
T
he WSSA competition is about
celebrating the talent of young
artisans in the country and showcasing
how key the artisanal sector is to the
country’s economy. Approximately 120
participants from public technical and
vocational education and training (TVET)
colleges, private colleges, universities of
technology, and industry competed in 21
skills areas. In addition, the competition will
attract over 4 000 high school students from
schools around the KwaZulu-Natal province
for the National Artisan Career Festival,
which co-located this event.
This was the third WSSA competition
hosted by the Department of Higher
Education and Training (DHET), and the
deputy minister Buti Manamela officially
opened the event.
the condenser coil and preheat coil
has aluminium fins, manufactured by
Thermocoil.
Unlike the unit at the competition, the
mass-produced unit has a filtration system
and UV sterilisation to render the water fit
for human consumption.
After piping up and connecting the
electrics, the contestants had to charge
the system with R407C.
The electric panel was preassembled
by Kovco.
Hennie Basson of Coldfact Projects (one of
the judges) congratulating David La Grange
(left) on his win.
26
The six refrigeration contestants in red with Palesa Rakometsi (DHET
deputy director career management) at the back and Trueman Myeza
(WSSA technical expert for the refrigeration category), kneeling.
testo-sponsored prizes for the top three. From left: Jan Kriel (judge), Pieter Roets (third
place), David La Grange (first place), and Hennie Basson (judge).
This year, the project was a novel
innovation to produce potable water. The
contestants in the refrigeration category
had to assemble and commission a small
water harvesting unit that extracts water
vapour from ambient air. Designed by
Kovco, the unit with a 7.33kWR rotary
compressor, has a 24-hour output of
approximately 100ℓ of water collected in a
stainless-steel drip pan.
For compliance with food safety
regulations, the direct expansion
evaporator coil has copper fins while
David La Grange of Airvent working on what would be crowned the winning project.
PROJECT
AND THE WINNERS ARE …
Congratulations to the winner in the
refrigeration category: David La Grange,
an apprentice at Airvent Airconditioning
and Ventilation in Cape Town. Second
place went to Jorge Valente of OTTC
(Springs), with the bronze medal being
awarded to the College of Cape Town’s
Pieter Roets.
La Grange will receive further training
before making his way to Kazan for the
global WorldSkills competition taking
pace from 22 to 27 August 2019. He is very
excited about this opportunity, particularly
for improving his skills, he says.
The top-three competitors received a
testo 770-3 as a prize, which was presented
to them by Torsten Harms of testo. This
instrument is a true root-mean-squared
(RMS) electrical clamp meter capable
of measuring, among other things,
inrush current, wattage, power factor,
capacitance, and voltage.
Various other industry sponsors got
together to ensure that the contestants
had all the equipment and tools they
needed to get the job done.
The judging team. Back, from left: Trueman Myeza; Martin
McEneaney-Nel; Hennie Basson; Jan Kriel; Claude Matare; and
Hannes van Rooyen. Front: Palesa Rakometsi (left) and Bob Vuletic.
www.coldlinkafrica.co.za
COLD LINK AFRICA • May 2019