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First Prize: Mr. Remco ten Berge |
When Isolde Döbelin visited the Chillventa 2008 Exhibition to meet all the supports and friends of OTTC, she deceided to yet again invite the winner of the German Refrigeration Competition 2008, Martin Baumeister to visit OTTC. As the Euro Skills Competition was held in September she also extended the invitation to the Gold Medal Winner from Nederland Mr. Remco ten Berge.
This was not the first time OTTC invited Gold Medal Winners of Refrigeration Competitions. The first time it was the Gold Medal Winner from the International Skills Competition 2001 in Seoul, Nicolas Reinhard, and when he visited OTTC, he attended The AM1 and AM2 Ammonia Course. The second time OTTC extended their invite was to the Gold Medal Winner, Ralph Beelen and Peter van Rooij from the Netherlands, at the AREA (Euro Skills) Competition, held at the IKK in 2004 were invited and they were accompanied by Jan Reiijmers Member of AREA.The third time the invitation was handed out, the winner of the German Refrigeration Competition, Martin Baumeister, and the Euro Skills 2008 Gold Medal Winner, Mr. Remco ten Berge from Netherlands to visit the OTTC.
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Second Prize: Mr. Christopher Carlsen |
This time Mr. Martin Baumeister was accompanied by Mr. Karsten Beermann (CEO of IKKE Master School Refrigeration and Airconditioning, Duisburg and a Member of the Worldk Skills Committee Germany and Member of AREA and Patron of OTTC since 1998.)
Mr. Remco ten Berge was accompanied by Hans van Ar (Docent NVKL Koning Willem I College Netherlands, Chairperson Euroskills and Member of AREA. Van Ar is also a Technical Expert for the International World Skills Competition.)
On 8 April 2009, The Open Trade Training Center in Springs, Gauteng, hosted an International Competition between the two Gold Medal Winners and the OTTC Students. Isolde Döbelin wanted to see if the training at the OTTC would be in line with the Euro Standards while at the same time OTTC students would gain experience as to the way of euro speed and installation techniques. In short, the purpose was for the “interchanging of information”, to see “what can be learnt from each other” and learn from each other’s standards of practice says Isolde Döbelin. The competition was designed by Norbert Ludwig and Istvan Nyul from OTTC and is based on and according to the German Apprentice Test.
An Investment was needed for 8 Workstations and this was made possible by the big sponsorship of condensing units by Danfoss and one evaporator from HC.
To make this Competition fair two, outside Judges, Mr. Paul Hansen from Cubicool and Ernst Bezuidenhout from Eurocool, accepted the nomination. The OTTC thanks all these instrumental role palyers in all they have done for the academy. Bob and Vannessa Vuletic made this occasion another celebration by sponsoring the catering Spitbraai and
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Third Prize: Mr. Benjamin Millne |
Draft Bier. Isolde Döbelin gives a hearty “Thank You” to all the students and everybody that got involved to make this OTTC International Competition a success. What follows is an explanation of the International skills competition held at the OTTC.
1. Theoretical Examination
At first, the competitors had to proof evidence on their expert knowledge. As a refrigeration technician is not only a trained person on certain practical tasks, not knowing the background of what he performs in the field, the candidates had to answer 180 multiple choice questions, broken down to 45 sections with 4 questions each.
Out of various matters of expert knowledge in refrigeration and air conditioning, proof of evidence was required in matters as basic thermodynamics, the refrigeration cycle, safeties, safe handling of refrigerant, electric and fault finding. At all, the candidates were given 45 minutes to answer all those questions correctly to achieve 30% of the total competition’s marks.
2. The Plant
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Fig. 1: Plant Diagram |
Intention of this competition’s practical part was not just to assess some candidates on a few tasks. As in the field, the demand on a musician is to play the piano instead of just knowing a few keys, the demand on a technician is also to be familiar with everything in his field, particular detailed problem solving during installation and commissioning. At all, he has to build a plant that matches safety regulations, can be operated economically, matches good artisan’s standards and at least satisfies the client to achieve the remaining 70% of the competition’s marks.
Close to these requirements of the field, the participants got schematic diagrams (as seen in figure 1 and figure 2), the material as well as the tools and restricted 8 hours of time. The plant, an imaginary freezer room with hot gas defrost and an electronic controller, has a cooling capacity of 1.4kW and was to be fitted onto an area of about 1m², including the freezer room and the plant room. As in the field, mechanical details participants had to solve themselves.
Preparation on OTTC side included to modify the evaporator, because it was not really operated in a freezer room. Due to operation under ambient temperature with abnormal high heat load, Dipl. Eng. Istvan Nyul from theOTTC reduced the evaporator’s pipe length to achieve the required cooling capacity under ambient conditions. Further on, all participants were supported with all required information as diagrams, instructions, set points and a commissioning document to be filled in.
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Fig. 2 Electrical Schematic Diagram |
As expected from a technician in the field, the candidates had to build the plant including the powerdistribution board according to current regulations and good practise codes, to determine a suitable quantity of charge (refrigerant R507), leak- test the plant, adjust customer specified and regulation dependent set points, set other set points like defrost parameters as will and expert knowledge to ensure proper operational conditions.
By proper umentation, the judges were able tooverview if the candidates built field-suitable plant that at allcan be operated safely, satisfies the customer’s demand and is made up to good standards. ◊
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South African Institute of Refrigeration &
Air Conditioning
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