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The ASHRAE Handbook is published in a series of four volumes, one of which is revised each year, ensuring that no volume is older than four years. The new edition, incorporating a wide range of updates, is now available.

The handbook published by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), is considered a practical repository of knowledge in the heating and cooling sector. The edition covers in particular the areas of cooling, freezing and storing food; industrial applications; and low-temperature refrigeration.

"The Handbook gives the industry a primer in a wide variety of refrigeration topics, such as storing and transporting fruit, cryosurgery, ice-skating rinks, slaughterhouses and concrete dams," said William McCartney, chair of the committee that oversaw writing of the volume. "While the Handbook is primarily a reference for the practicing engineer, the volume is also useful for anyone involved in cooling and storage of food products."

Out of a number of chapters that have been updated, the most interesting are:

• Chapter 2, Ammonia Refrigeration Systems, has added guidance on avoiding hydraulic shock, on purging water and noncondensables, as well as on hot-gas defrost and defrost control.
• Chapter 9, Refrigerant Containment, Recovery, Recycling and Reclamation, has added a new table comparing sensitivities of various leak-detection methods and a procedure for receiver level monitoring.
• Chapter 11, Refrigerant-Control Devices, has updated information on electric expansion valves and discharge bypass valves, plus revised figures on thermostatic expansion valves (TXVs) and several revised examples.
• Chapter 38, Fruit Juice Concentrates and Chilled Juice Products, has added description of storage tank sterilization.
• Chapter 44, Ice Rinks, has extensive changes to the section on heat recovery and updated loads information based on ASHRAE research project RP-1289.

The ASHRAE Handbook - Refrigeration can be ordered from the ASHRAE website: www.ashrae.org/bookstore.

About ASHRAE

ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is an international organization of some 50,000 persons. ASHRAE fulfills its mission of advancing heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration to serve humanity and promote a sustainable world through research, standards writing, publishing and continuing education.