Associations
ASHRAE SOUTH AFRICAN CHAPTER STUDENT COMMITTEE UPDATE
The Student Activities committee of ASHRAE South African Chapter has started the new Society Year on a strong note after successfully completing a few important events .
Under the leadership of its new chair , Mr . Mauritz von Zijl , the committee has successfully completed the first of its monthly workshops and hosted a quiz competition in collaboration with the ASHRAE UJ Student Branch .
NEW STUDENT BRANCHES We are actively working towards registering a new student branch , the ASHRAE University of Pretoria student branch . Once completed , this will greatly add to the membership numbers of the Student Activities committee . The prospective student members are a highly motivated and energetic group of people , who will be led by prof . Jaco Dirker from the University of Pretoria .
EXISTING STUDENT BRANCHES The ASHRAE UJ Student branch are very active and have started the new society year with a few activities already under their belt . The first inaugural event took place on 24 June 2021 and the student branch ’ s AGM was held on 18 August 2021 .
‐The UJ Student branch has also added to their membership numbers through the addition of the Doornfontein Student Branch which now has a total of 13 members , led by Mr . Bakaya , their Student Branch Advisor . The workshop and quiz events have attracted quite a few students who showed interest in ASHRAE membership , which is wonderful news for our Society .
EVENTS Apart from attending the Region at Large ( RAL ) quiz competition in May , our students have also taken part in ASHRAE UPES & ASRAE India ’ s Quarantine Quiz 2.0 in July . Then the executive team of our own UJ Student Branch , under the leadership of Student Branch Advisor Prof . Daniel Madyira and Dr . Sonja Kruger , arranged their own quiz that took place on 28 August 2021 .
The first of our upcoming series of Industry & Technology Awareness workshops , that will be held monthly throughout the coming Society Year , was completed in August as well . The aim of these workshops is to familiarize students with the HVAC & R industry of South Africa . Every workshop covers a section of the industry to explore a type of company and what the role of those working in that environment and roles include .
The first workshop dealt with consulting engineers and Mr . Grant Watters delivered an excellent presentation on the matter . The topics discussed included :
• The role of such a company in the industry . ( To describe the responsibilities of a consulting engineering firm , who they answer to and who they work with )
• Roles & responsibilities of the staff members in the company . ( To provide a description of a prospective career at a consulting engineering firm to the students .)
• Day-to-day activities of a person who works as a consulting engineer .
• The tools often used by consulting engineers , such as software and hardware .
• The knowledge required to successfully perform the duties of a consulting engineer .
• The percentage interaction with other people in performing the duties of a consulting engineer .
• The speaker ’ s opinion of the HVAC & R industry and its future in South Africa .
• The type of people that do well in the role of a consulting engineer .
• Life skills learnt as a consulting engineer .
The second part of each workshop deals with a type of technology that is used in the industry . Mr . Christo Vermeulen delivered a thorough presentation on the topic of chillers , heat pumps , polyvalent units , and absorption chillers . Their uses , their major components and attributes were discussed .
Our next workshop will cover the topic of mechanical contractors for the industry awareness section , and air terminals for the technology section . We further aim to cover the whole industry through the next 10 months and will get our Region-At-Large branches involved with a few of these events .
DESIGN COMPETITIONS The Student Activities committee is excited to enlist students into the new ASHRAE design competitions , and once our new branch has found their feet and completed their first event , we will shift our focus to the design competitions , but first , we have a Region at Large upcoming competition that we will navigate with our new student members . RACA
20
RACA Journal I January 2022 www . hvacronline . co . za