News
TAKING SA SKILLS
TO THE WORLD
By Ntsako Khosa
FROM SOUTH AFRICA TO RUSSIA
La Grange was crowned the overall winner in the refrigeration
category for his novel innovation to produce potable water.
The contestants in the refrigeration category had to assemble
and commission a small water harvesting unit which extracts
water vapour from ambient air. Designed by Kovco, the unit
with a 7.33kWR rotary compressor has a 24-hour output of
about 100ℓ of water collected in a stainless-steel drip pan. For
compliance with food safety regulations, the direct expansion
evaporator coil had copper fins while the condenser coil and
preheat coil had 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. La
Grange received training before making his way to Russia for
the global WorldSkills competition.
COMPETING IN RUSSIA
In Russia he had to build a miniature ice rink with the addition
of heat recovery as both are key aspects of refrigeration and air-
conditioning. “It took a matter of 3-4 days to construct but the
whole task was split into different section/categories as it made
www.hvacronline.co.za
D
avid la Grange from Airvent Airconditioning and
Ventilation was chosen to represent South Africa at
the WorldSkills 2019 competition in the refrigeration and air
conditioning category.
The annual international competition took place in
Russia in August 2019. The Competition will bring together
approximately 1 600 young professionals representing more
than 70 countries who will compete to be World Champions
in 56 different skills. Twenty-one gold medal finalists from
the National Competition held in Durban – hosted by the
Department of Higher Education and Training (dhet) – were
selected for the WorldSkills South Africa team that will
compete on a global scale in areas such as refrigeration,
construction, manufacturing, engineering, creative arts, ICT,
logistics and more.
World Skills 2019 was held in Kazan, Russia.
scoring fair as there were more than one task being moderated
at the same time to prevent contestants cheating,” he explains.
Various refrigeration materials and industry tools were
provided and sourced through world skills Russia to yet again
prevent unfair advantage. He adds that each South African
contestant had to build and or assemble and commission the
unit and or project on their own to prevent outside interference
and unfair advantage. Each task was weighted regarding marks
and time differently.
Russia and Korea won gold in the refrigeration and air
conditioning category, with Australia walking away with a
bronze medal.
TAKE AWAY
According to La Grange, the unit they created incorporates
all aspects of cooling and refrigeration and HVAC. Although
he feels South Africa is on par with the world in terms of
HVAC technologies owing to his interactions with the other
contestants, he shares that one of the barriers to entry that the
country has to overcome is the lack of monitoring of progress
and funding in preparation of world skills specifically for the
refrigeration category. RACA
RACA Journal I February 2020
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