Aeroseal’s HomeSeal duct sealing technology was announced as the winner of the 2016 AHR Expo Innovation Awards “product of the year” accolade.

With HomeSeal, Aeroseal has provided the industry’s first alternative to traditional manual duct sealing products.  The aerosol-based solution works from the inside of ventilation shafts to “seek” and bond-seal targeted leaks, rather than coating the entire inside of the shaft with sealant.

The technology, developed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, EPA and others, works from inside the shaft to find and seal leaks. Aeroseal’s solution, which eliminates the need to disrupt or destroy current construction, provides much-anticipated relief to HVAC contractors, for whom accessing exhaust shafts in existing buildings was previously difficult, if not impossible, without major demolition. This duct sealing technology has been employed to fix critical ventilation issues in numerous buildings and facilities, including hospitals and multi-story apartment buildings.

“Almost every home in the United States has residential duct leakage that keeps as much as 30 percent of air in a given home out of occupied spaces,” said Neal Walsh, senior vice president of strategy and commercial sales at Aeroseal. “This results in a huge loss of energy, but until now solving the problem has typically required major disruption to home interiors. Our technology allows a contractor to seal up duct work that’s already been installed, improving both comfort and energy savings.

In total, the complete list of 2016 AHR Expo Innovation Award winners includes:

• Building Automation: Accutrol AVC Fume Hood Control System from Accutrol, LLC
• Cooling: ZoomLine™ Flexible Tubing from Sporlan – Parker Hannifin
• Green Building: Piranha Wastewater Heat Recovery Heat Pump from International Wastewater Systems Inc.
• Heating: Victaulic Grooved System for Saturated Steam Piping from Victaulic
• Indoor Air Quality: ASCENDANT™ conventional cooling, active desiccant hybrid system from SEMCO LLC
• Plumbing: NEUTON controlled chilled beam pump module from SEMCO LLC
• Refrigeration: HEOS Sistema – high efficiency waterloop system for commercial refrigeration from CAREL INDUSTRIES S.p.A.
• Software: PlasmaSoft 2.0 IAQ Procedure Software from Plasma Air International
• Tools & Instruments: ZoomLock™ Braze-Free Fittings from Sporlan – Parker Hannifin
• Ventilation: Aeroseal duct sealing technology from Aeroseal
• The judging panel recognized an additional 33 products and technologies with honorable mentions.