TROX ACADEMY
02/12/2008
TROX UK’s research & development budget reflects the company’s belief in investing for the future. But now it has gone a stage further by introducing a ground-breaking new training initiative – the TROX Academy. Terry Farthing, head of communications at TROX UK, explains
As a company that operates globally and on a broad front in terms of the products, systems and services it offers, TROX UK takes its responsibilities to innovate seriously. One manifestation of this is the company’s impressive investment in research & development which has resulted in the introduction of a raft of energy saving systems and concepts over recent years.
But the distinctive nature of many of the company’s new systems and the technical “edge” that they possess begs a fundamental question – “How can we educate and inform the market of these pioneering developments and obtain comment and feedback?”
Our answer is the TROXAcademy. Launched last year, the Academy is a novel industry-based training programme where concepts and ideas are discussed and demonstrated, generally in advance of any formal product or system launch. Each training session comprises detailed technical briefings, followed by a test or demonstration in the state-of-the-art TROX laboratories in Thetford, Norfolk.
As well as enabling us to gain a unique insight into what leading players in the industry think of our cutting edge developments, the TROXAcademy also helps us:
• Ensure our own employees reach a predetermined level of skill. Initially this applied to specific functions such as sales, but it is now being rolled out across the whole company as the scheme develops.
• Strengthen our already well-established and popular continuous professional development seminar programme.
Our aim is to inform TROXAcademy participants of evolving systems, educate them in the theory and reasoning used by our engineers, and support and enforce these comments through practical demonstrations and tests. We also provide design tips which have proved very useful to engineers applying these new systems.
A two-way exchange of views is paramount. Indeed, the TROXAcademy mission statement was developed with this firmly in mind: “Exchanging knowledge and skills from research, system development and experience”.
The TROX Academy has so far attracted senior figures from 35 leading companies including ACTS, Arup, Bovis, Buro Happold, Cundall, Faber Maunsell, Hilson Moran, Hoare Lea, Hulley & Kirkwood, hurleypalmerflatt, Land Securities, Max Fordham, RPP, Sir Robert McAlpine and WSP. In all over 700 engineers have attended the TROXAcademy where we believe the key benefits are as follows:-
• They have the knowledge and detailed information to communicate these new concepts to their prospective clients and enhance their ability to win business.
• From the interactive nature of the training, they can hear other organisations’ views.
• They see first hand how the systems perform which underpins the theory that has been discussed in the training room. They therefore gain a much better understanding of the key issues. This can assist in overcoming the reluctance to utilise new ideas which the market is now demanding through the carbon issues and building regulations.
The most popular event has been the one day training course which covers a number of new systems a few examples are given in the following paragraphs:
VAV Fan Coils - The theoretical saving in motor power by varying the air volume; this is followed by tests showing the actual savings. The tests and theory point to a reduction in energy of around 3.5watts/m².
Chilled Beams - The whole selection process is reviewed and design tips and guidance given for the best type of chilled beams. Principles of induction and how the induction rate can be increased are discussed together with the benefits. Demonstration of a high induction beam with top discharge, together with a detailed review of all of the types of “beam engines” commonly available.
CO2 Cooling - This is a very topical subject since it covers the employment of an increasingly popular refrigerant in data centres and dealer desk cooling. All design issues are fully explained together with the resilience of the systems. One feature of CO2 is its enormous ability to remove heat which is seven times more effective than water. Both the CO2OLrac (data centres) and CO2OLdesk (dealer desk) are seen in a working test cell so attendees can fully appreciated the high heat loads that can be removed by CO2. In data centres these heat loads can exceed 18,000 watts/ m² with the use of blade servers and this is demonstrated in a new test facility recently opened for TROXAcademy.
TROXAcademy dates for 2008 are now fully booked so it is important to register your interest early for 2009 by going to: www.troxuk.co.uk/uk/forms/academy.
Other activities undertaken by TROXAcademy have been courses designed for the needs of specific organisations, work placements and more recently assistance with graduate research activities.
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