The Natural Refrigeration

Heat pumps, real life stories from PSM coordinators and the use of AI in refrigeration and waste heat recovery for data centers are a few of the hot topics slated for discussion at IIAR’s 2026 conference in San Antonio.

This year’s papers will address several categories spanning safety, CO2 optimization, heat exchangers, cold storage, ammonia charge and more. In addition, a series of panels and workshops will address many of the industry’s focus areas.

Eric Smith, IIAR’s vice president and technical director, said all IIAR’s papers provide invaluable expertise to different specialty areas within refrigeration – with the breadth, depth, and applicability of the papers representing a valuable resource for members.

“The outpouring of work required to deliver the kind of technical program we see every year is outstanding,” said Smith. “It’s a testament to the depth of expertise represented by our members, and our industry-wide drive to put that knowledge to practical use.”

While every paper has something valuable to offer, Smith said several papers stand out within this year’s lineup for their broad appeal, given the most dominant trends and technical considerations the industry’s decision makers are currently facing.

“Absorbing the Future: Innovative Waste Heat Recovery for Food and Beverage and Data Center Cooling,” will look at the advantages of heat recovery for end users, particularly data centers which produce substantial waste heat as a byproduct of their on-site power generation. Absorption cooling technology, which uses heat instead of electricity to drive the cooling process, offers a sustainable and highly efficient solution at a time when data center builders are under scrutiny for their resource consumption.

The paper “A Day in the Life of a PSM Coordinator,” will examine the practicalities of process safety management from several different vantage points: the coordinator, the technician and the plant manager or refrigeration manager. The format of the PSM presentation will give a clear picture of what coordinators, and a PSM program in general, need from each group. “It’s always interesting and informative to hear about the problems and advantages of boots on the ground audits from a regulatory compliance perspective,” said Smith, adding that IIAR workshops will also address general safety topics this year.

One workshop, “Safe Practices for Compliant Pressure Testing Refrigerant Piping Systems,” is another good place to get practical advice on compliance testing. The workshop will provide information for contractors and end-users to ensure their refrigerant piping systems are properly pressure tested in accordance with industry codes and standards. The workshop will lay out the strategies for planning and managing the pressure testing of large piping systems in a cost-effective way while making sure personnel safety is maintained during the process of pressure testing piping systems.

Meanwhile, the idea of using AI in refrigeration will be discussed in the technical paper presentation for “Increasing Stability with Adaptive Parabolic Algorithm Control in Your Refrigeration Loop.”

The paper will demonstrate the implementation of Adaptive Parabolic Algorithm Control on an ammonia refrigeration system, achieving an 80% decrease in compressor RPMs standard deviation. Energy savings and peak energy use reduction will be discussed in the context of increasing the stability of a system, allowing the site additional capabilities.

Smith said the advantages of AI in the coming years will likely surface in control systems. “Integrating that logic into control systems will help stabilize the operation of systems and will likely increase energy efficiencies and perform predictive maintenance functions.”

The field of CO2 is also expanding rapidly, said Smith, especially where CO2 heat pumps can be applied in cooling and heating system designs.

The paper “CO2 Heat Pumps: Main Differences with Refrigeration Systems and Real-life Examples,” will look at the basic similarities and differences between a refrigeration system and a heat pump with CO2 as refrigerant.

Even though system architectures and components are generally the same on paper, there are important practical differences, among others: control logic. There are different parameters which influence the control logic of a CO2 refrigeration system and a heat pump.

“A heat pump system is a refrigeration system,” said Smith. “But obviously, there are different parameters and limitations with the design considerations. This would be a great presentation for those who are accustomed to cooling system design and heating systems.”

For those in the industry concerned with safety topics, the paper “The Vibration Failure Risk of Piping and Tubing,” promises a look at the methods used for tubing vibration measurement, assessment, and failure risk. During the presentation, guidelines will be provided on how to screen operating systems as well as design guides to prevent vibration issues.

“This one is interesting because CO2 systems operate at such high pressures that understanding how to mitigate [vibration failure risk] is crucial. Many practitioners in our industry could benefit from learning more about this issue.”

While Smith stressed that IIAR attendees usually find any technical paper presentation they choose to attend to be valuable, he said the conference closing session should be an essential stop on everyone’s program this year. The closing session will be a rare opportunity to learn about the details of IIAR’s standards and how to use them – directly from the IIAR committees in charge of writing them.

Dayna Martinez, IIAR’s education programs manager, agreed with Smith, emphasizing that this year’s technical program upholds IIAR’s long tradition of producing valuable technical papers.

“This program represents an intense investment of work,” said Martinez. “Having all our members making contributions to continue advancing their field is an amazing thing to see. And seeing all those contributions materialize [at the conference] is huge and rewarding for everyone.”