ASHRAE has announced a call for papers for its 2018 Winter Conference in Chicago, IL, Jan. 20-24 at the Palmer House Hilton.

This conference includes tracks on what ASHRAE is most known for – standards, fundamentals and applications, systems and equipment, tracks on industry trends in resiliency and modeling throughout a building’s life cycle, and tracks addressing specific disciplines, such as transportation air conditioning, tall buildings and heat exchange equipment.

“Engineers and designers continue to advance designs to reduce the ecological impact of our built environment on the world around us.  It has practically become second nature.”  Michael Collarin, chair of the 2018 ASHRAE Winter Conference, said.  “However, and seemingly more so in recent years, the industry has needed to take steps to mitigate the impact of the world around us on our built environment. This is especially the case in our transportation, government, and mission critical arenas, where the loss of critical infrastructure can have severe consequences, including the loss of life.  The tracks and programs for the ASHRAE Winter Conference will focus on resources to design, build, control, commission and operate facilities and infrastructure that need to not only be efficient, but resilient.”

The “Earth, Wind & Fire” track aims to help owners and design teams identify and plan for natural elements and other possible disasters that would otherwise be crippling. Papers that evaluate various systems (including HVAC, building envelope, structural, filtration, and on-site power), design strategies, construction measures, and building operation are sought.  Papers addressing the worldwide implementation of codes and standards to harden facilities and equipment are sought. The conference will also include an HVAC&R focus on fundamentals, applications, systems, equipment, refrigeration and modeling.

The “Standards, Guidelines and Codes” track addresses how these are constantly evolving with the intent on improving the built environment and its systems and the need for designers, contractors, architects and owners to keep up with the continuing changes in the current cycle as well as to prepare for future changes.  The papers and sessions highlight the changes to the standards and guidelines, their projected path and optimum design techniques to meet or exceed the standards.

The “Fundamentals and Applications” track lays the foundation for understanding applications in engineering. Key components include thermodynamics, psychrometrics, fluid and mass flow, IAQ, and building envelope. This track provides opportunities for papers and presentations of varying levels across a large topic base. Concepts, design elements and shared experiences for theoretical and applied concepts of HVAC&R design are included.

The “HVAC&R Systems and Equipment” track focuses on selection, which is paramount to HVAC&R design.  Papers and programs in this track will assist designers, engineers, and operators in the design, selection, and operation of HVAC&R systems and equipment.

Designing for natural elements and other possible disasters often requires specific elements of building design and construction. From materials to stabilizing elements and simulations to specifications, these options must be incorporated. The “Earth, Wind and Fire” track will deliver on modern strategies to address all of these conditions. Be prepared to be blown away by industry practices to prevent disastrous results.

The explosion of computational capacity and data collection capability is rapidly expanding the scope, complexity and practical applications of modeling both during design, but even more so for fault detection, diagnostics and operational optimization.  Papers and presentations are solicited related to all aspects of building modeling, with a particular interest in successful applications addressing operational phases for the “Modeling throughout the Building Life Cycle” track.

Also, papers are sought for tracks focused on “Tall Buildings, “Transportation IAQ and Air Conditioning” and “Heat Exchange Equipment.”

In addition, a “Refrigeration” mini-track will be presented at the 2018 AHR Expo, Jan. 22-24, McCormick Place. Admission will be free.  The AHR Expo is expected to attract some 60,000 registered visitors and exhibitor personnel.

ASHRAE offers two types of paper submissions:

• Conference Papers: Abstracts due March 1, 2017.  Upon acceptance, final papers will be due July 7, 2017.  These “final” papers undergo a single-blind review, are submitted as a PDF and have an eight single-spaced page maximum length.
• Full Technical Papers, which are due March 1, 2017.  Papers submitted for review must be both technically accurate and clearly written. These papers undergo a rigorous double-blind review and can be a maximum of 30 double-spaced pages.

The technical program will be announced in September 2017.

To submit a conference paper abstract or a technical paper and for more information about the conference, visit www.ashrae.org/chicago.