Research

We are delighted to invite the President of Star Refrigeration, Prof. Forbes Pearson, to give us a lecture “Scottish Pioneers of Refrigeration and Thermodynamics” on 11-12 PM Monday 25th November in theatre JWS 375.

This invited talk is organised as an industrial lecture for our students attending “Thermodynamics  M2” and “Advanced Thermal Engineering 4” classes, and also as an seminar for the staff and other students within our School of Engineering. 

All welcome

 

 

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Biography

Dr Pearson studied at Strathclyde and Glasgow Universities taking the degrees of ARCST, BSc in Mechanical Engineering and the degree of PhD for work on component losses in small compressors. During his apprenticeship he worked with L Sterne & Company, Rolls Royce Ltd and Tecumseh Products Michigan.

After university, Dr Pearson accepted the post of Senior Scientific Officer at Torry Research Station, Aberdeen and was involved in the practical development of freezing fish at sea on trawlers. Dr Pearson left Torry Research Station after three years to take up a post with L Sterne & Co Ltd, Glasgow. He was with L Sterne & Company Ltd for eleven years during which time he became a Divisional Director and Chief Engineer of the Industrial Refrigeration Division. On the closure of the Industrial Refrigeration Division by Prestcold Ltd, Dr Pearson and some colleagues founded Star Refrigeration Ltd in 1970.

At Star Refrigeration Dr Pearson was responsible for the development of a patented range of high efficiency blast freezers, for the low pressure receiver type of refrigeration system, giving evaporator overfeed without the use of pumps, for four-port ball type reversing valves for reversed cycle defrost and for the introduction of the patented thermo-syphon system of cooling for main frame computers. He developed the first practical drop-in replacements for R502 and R12 and has also patented drop-ins for R22, R12 in centrifugal compressors and R13B1. Dr Pearson is presently President of Star Refrigeration Ltd, is a past-President of The Institute of Refrigeration and was formerly Chairman of the Technical Committee of The Institute of Refrigeration. He is a past-Chairman of BSI Committee RHE/18 "Refrigeration Safety" and of the European TC182 WG2, also on refrigeration safety. Dr Pearson was awarded the Hall Thermotank Gold Medal of The Institute of Refrigeration in 1991 and has also been awarded the Lightfoot Medal on six occasions. He is the holder of many patents on subjects relating to refrigeration and is the author of many technical papers.

Dr Pearson is a visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde and was awarded the IIR Gustav Laurentzen medal in Washington in 2003. He was awarded the UK Cooling Industry Gold award in 2004 and became an honorary Life Member of the International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration in 2005 and of the International Institute of Refrigeration in 2007.

Dr Pearson’s most recent work has been the editing of the IIR Guide, ”Saving Energy in Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pump Technology.”, published in December 2007. This guide is an accurate but practical text based on long experience of the refrigeration industry.

First published: 24 October 2013