EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
merSETA and chair of the organisers of
previous WSSA competitions, was present
and given recognition for the role he has
played in WSSA.
The four competitors in the trade of
refrigeration and air conditioning were
tasked with a practical project of making
a model ice rink. The project had three
modules to test the many different skills
needed in the industry.
The first module required the
competitor to fabricate a copper tubing
circuit for the secondary refrigerant
circuit that would form the ice rink
surface. The coil was to be constructed
of 12 lengths of ½ inch of copper tubing,
fed by a 7 / 8 inch copper header. Module
one was to test the skill of measurement,
reading of a drawing, brazing and
fabrication.
In the second module, the copper coil
was connected to a refrigeration system
having a R134a hermetic condensing
unit, low pressure separator, brazed plate
heat exchanger (R134a to propylene
glycol) and an open buffer tank with
submersible pump for the propylene
glycol. All components, including level
switches, had to be connected to a
prewired electrical panel. The system
had to be leak tested, evacuated,
charged and commissioned to have a
frozen ice rink.
The final module tested the skill of
fault finding and the repair of faults
set by judges during the competitor’s
absence. The original time allowed for
the three modules was 18 hours over the
three-day period and was extended
to 30 hours to allow for some of the
short comings of the competitors and
availability of components.
All competitors finished with some
assistance given to David le Grange
(Airvent, Brackenfell, Cape Town).
Tyrone Bunce (Standard Refrigeration,
Durban) with the top score, received
The workstations for the four competitors in refrigeration and air conditioning arrived by truck from Johannesburg.
the gold medal. The bronze went to
Valentin Valente and the silver to Lionald
Wooldridge, both of OTTC in Springs.
The three judges, Peter Hoetmer
(Metraclark, Johannesburg), ‘Boenie’
Louw (Tshwane South College) and Kobus
Harmse (Cape Town College) were close
in their markings with the final adjudication
by the national skills expert, Bob Vuletic
(Multistage Cooling, Johannesburg),
who commented, “The standard of t