rdandt@rdandt.co.uk
RD&T launched from the ashes of FRPERC
The Food Refrigeration and Process Engineering Research Centre (FRPERC) has long been established as the leading research centre in the UK for work on refrigeration and food. When the University of Bristol decided to close FRPERC at the end of July 2009 there was general shock within the UK refrigeration industry. The group contained over 200 years of experience and was a valuable source of knowledge gained over many years as part of the Meat Research Institute, AFRC Institute of Food Research and latterly as part of the University of Bristol.
Members of FRPERC have now set up a company to preserve the knowledge base and continue the refrigeration work carried out at FRPERC. The team consisting of Judith Evans, Tim Brown and Dr Alan Foster have been joined by Edward Hammond and are now called Refrigeration Developments and Testing (RD&T).
RD&T will continue the refrigeration work carried out at FRPERC which included:
- Retail and commercial cabinet testing, development and optimisation.
- Design and optimisation of prototype refrigeration systems.
- Heat and mass transfer modelling.
- Energy reduction and optimisation of refrigeration facilities and systems.
RD&T will initially trade from the FRPERC site at Langford, near Bristol, with the plan to move off site to new facilities in the future. Academic links will be maintained through collaboration with London South Bank University (LSBU), allowing continued research and industrial-research collaborations such as Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) and LINK projects.
Managing Director of RD&T, Judith Evans said "we believe that RD&T offers a unique service that transfers research knowledge into industrial projects that are delivered under commercial constraints and timescales. We are keen to expand the services we already offered as part of FRPERC and to continue our collaborations with our customers". For further information on RD&T please either visit their web site at: www.rdandt.co.uk or contact Judith Evans at j.a.evans@rdandt.co.uk.
