The 10th Bry-Air Awards function, held on February 27 at BIEC during ACREX 2015, Bangalore, was a milestone event, attended by the who’s who of the HVAC&R industry like Dr. Prem C. Jain, Chairman, Indian Green Building Council; D. Nirmal Ram, National President, ISHRAE; Frank Hovorka, Vice President, REHVA; Erick Melquiond, President, Eurovent Certita Certification and many more. The keynote speaker Swami Sukhabodhananda, Founder Chairman, Prasanna Trust , held the audience enthralled by his speech on ‘Innovation from Ordinary to Extraordinary’. Deepak Pahwa, Chairman, Pahwa Group and Managing Director, Bry-Air Asia, thanked the industry for their support to the Bry-Air Awards and said, “Innovation in technology as well business processes will play a key role towards making the best of global opportunities that are opening up. Industry leaders need to encourage innovative thinking”. The winners were the real heroes of the evening.

The winner in Student Category was Shivakumar R. of Anna University (CEG), Guindy, Chennai for the project ‘Simultaneous Production of Cooling and Drying of Agro Products Using Modified Ammonia Absorption Refrigeration System’. Jury commendation was given to Raihan Ahmad and the team of Priyadarshini College of Engineering for ‘HVAC Design of 100 Bedded Healthcare Centre’.

The runner-up in Product Design category was P. Babu, Head-Innovation and Mugdha Kulkarni, Senior Executive – Innovation of Thermax Ltd. for their project ‘10 Chilled Water Vapour Absorption Chiller’. Thermax has won the coveted award several times.

The winner in System Design category was Vikas Makkar, Regional Manager, Infosys Ltd. for his project ‘The Next Generation of Smart Buildings’. The runner up was Ashish Rakheja, Managing Director, AECOM India Pvt. Ltd., for his project ‘Under-Floor Air Distribution’. Jury commendation was given to Adarsh Kaul, Proprietor, VAV Airconditioning, for his project ‘VRV Airconditioning for Mumbai High Court’. The winners of 10th Bry-Air awards were shortlisted by an independent and eminent Jury headed by Prof. S. Srinivasa Murthy of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Energy Research, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. The other Jury members were Mili Majumdar, Director, Sustainable Habitat Division, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI); B. Thiagarajan, Executive Director & President - AC&R Products Business, Blue Star Limited; D. Nirmal Ram, National President, ISHRAE; and Prof. Pradip Dutta, INAE Chair Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IISc. The criteria for adjudging the winners included Level of Innovation, Energy Efficiency and Environment Friendliness. The Bry-Air Awards evening saw some scintillating performances to celebrate the innovative work being done by the industry.