The winners of the 2021 Rittinger Award
In a ceremony held digitally at the closing session of the 13th IEA Heat Pump Conference in Jeju Korea on April 29 2021, the winners of the prestigious Peter Ritter von Rittinger International Heat Pump Award, the highest international award in the air conditioning, heat pump and refrigeration field were presented.
Jussi Hirvonen, Finnish Heat Pump Association, Professor Ruzhu Wang, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Center for Environmental Energy Engineering (CEEE) University of Maryland were given the 2021 Rittinger Award for their efforts in the field.
M.Sc. Jussi Hirvonen, was the initiator of heat pump business in the Finnish market and because of his tireless work, Finland has become one of the leading countries using heat pumps for space heating. Jussi’s 20 years of remarkable lifework in the heat pump sector also includes a large number of commitments in different positions and organizations which have forwarded heat pump business locally and globally. Jussi was the founder member establishing Finnish Heat Pump Association and as well founder member establishing European Heat pump Association (EHPA). He was also one of the members establishing Eesti Soojuspumpa Liit (ESPL) heat pump association into Estonia. Finland participating IEA HPT TCP program was also consequence of Jussi Hirvonen activity.
Prof. Ruzhu Wang is full professor and the director of Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (since 1993). His institute has been recognized a world leading research institute in Refrigeration and Heat Pump Technology. Prof. Wang’s major contributions related to heat pumping technologies include adsorption heat pumps, desiccant based heat pumps and dehumidification, vapor compression heat pumps, absorption heat pumps, and heat pump applications in green building energy systems and industrial waste heat recovery. He has written 12 Books regarding Refrigeration and Heat Pump Technologies (3 in English published by Wiley, Elsevier and Springer respectively). His publications have been extensively cited, thus he has been recognized as 2017 & 2018 Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in the world.
Center for Environmental Energy Engineering (CEEE), this team of researchers from the Center for Environmental Energy Engineering at the University of Maryland works on cutting-edge heat pump technology research. They have one of the world’s most comprehensive research portfolio on a wide range of heat pumping technologies both in terms of experiments and modeling. This remarkable group of researchers brings a wealth of experiences and expertise to the heat pump research community. Their contributions led to significant gains in technological development. They work collaboratively with researchers from other fields, other countries, and other institutions leading to great breakthroughs in both energy efficiency, improved performance, and reduction of manufacturing and energy costs.
Winners of the team from Center for Environmental Energy Engineering: Dr. Reinhard Radermacher, Dr. Yunho Hwang, Dr. Vikrant Aute, Dr. Jiazhen Ling, Mr. Jan Muehlbauer.
The team from the Center for Environmental Energy Engineering that received the 2020Rittinger Award consists of:
• Dr. Reinhard Radermacher, Director of the Center and Minta Martin Professor of Engineering, Professor of Mechanical Engineering
• Dr. Yunho Hwang, Co-Director and Research Professor
• Dr. Vikrant Aute, Co-Director and Research Scientist
• Dr. Jiazhen Ling, Assistant Research Professor
• Mr. Jan Muehlbauer, Faculty Specialist and Laboratory