Short Courses
Purdue 2026 Refrigeration Short Course
Next generation HVAC&R: New Applications and Opportunities in Heating and Cooling
Coordinated by: Prof. Craig Bradshaw (UIUC), Prof. Stefan Elbel (TU Berlin) and the U.S. National
Committee of the IIR in collaboration with Herrick Laboratories Faculty
July 12, 2026
Short Course Summary
The ever-increasing need for heating and cooling creates many new product opportunities accompanied by technical challenges that the industry needs to overcome in innovative and creative ways. This short course discusses a variety of emerging HVAC&R technologies and applications including data center cooling technologies, EV thermal management concepts, heat pumps for stationary comfort applications, and high temperature heat pumps for large-scale applications. This short course will have recognized speakers from academia, national labs, and industry to deliver this exciting update on next-generation HVAC&R applications. The goal of the short course is to showcase the state-of-the-art in both academia and industry and provide a venue for cross-application collaborative discussions and thought.
8:00am Course Introduction and Schedule
8:15am Stationary Heat Pumps for Comfort Applications
- Background and Ongoing Research
- Applications and Deployment Challenges
9:45am Coffee Break
10:15am EV Thermal Management – System and Components
- Refrigerants, Components, and System Architectures
- SAE Heat Pump CRP Update
11:45am Lunch Provided
1:00pm Data Center Cooling, Grid Integration, and Heat Recovery
- Getting the Heat out of the Chip – Review of Different Cooling Approaches
- High Capacity and Power … an Industry Perspective
2:30pm Coffee Break
3:00pm Large-scale, High-temperature Heat Pumps & Systems
- Technical challenges on the road to passing 150C
- From the drawing board to Making Steam – Application Examples
4:30pm Summary and Open Discussion
5:00pm Course Evaluation and Adjournment
6:00pm Dinner at Ripple & Co. (1007 Main St., Lafayette)
Purdue 2026 System Modeling Short Course
Dynamic Modeling, Reduced Order Models and AI-Integration
Coordinated by: Davide Ziviani (Purdue University), Riley Barta (Purdue University)
July 12, 2026
Short Course Summary
The HVAC&R industry is facing numerous challenges including transition to low-GWP refrigerants, new energy standards, electrification of heating, and new industrial applications. Model-based engineering design is an essential tool to evaluate design trade-offs, investigate new technologies and optimize year-round operation of equipment. In this Short Course, different modeling techniques will be covered to predict the performance of HVAC&R systems. Digital-twin and reduced order models (ROMs) will also be discussed to enable control development and fast computational models long with the integration of AI/ML techniques. Case studies will include residential, commercial, and industrial applications. The Short Course will be based on common modeling platforms such as Python and AI tools.
Schedule:
07:30 – 08:00 am Registration and Continental Breakfast (provided)
08:00 – 08:10 am Welcome and Introduction of the Short-Course [Ziviani]
08:10 – 09:50 am Session 1 – Comprehensive Mixture Fluid Screenings for Various Applications: Examples of Residential Heat Pumps and High Temperature Heat Pumps
09:50 – 10:10 am Coffee Break
10:10 – 11:50 am Session 2 – Models for Compressor Technologies and AI Integration.
12:00 – 01:00 pm Lunch (provided)
01:00 – 01:50 pm Session 3 – Heat Exchanger Modeling. Case Studies: circuitry optimizations for low-GWP refrigerants
01:50 – 02:40 pm Session 4 – Metamodel-Based Heat Pump Global Optimizations
02:40 – 03:00 pm Coffee Break
03:00 – 03:50 pm Session 5 – Bayesian-Based System Identification
03:50 – 04:40 pm Session 6 – Open Discussion on Future Modeling Techniques
04:40 – 05:00 pm Short-Course Wrap-Up and Feedback [Ziviani/All]
05:00 – 06:00 pm Optional Tour of Herrick Labs
06:00 – 08:00 pm Dinner at Ripple & Co. (1007 Main St., Lafayette)
Intelligent Building Operations Workshop Summary
Coordinated by: Kevin Kircher (Purdue), Gregor Henze (CU Boulder)
Intelligent Building Operations (IBO) include advanced design and control methods, data analytics, fault detection and diagnostics, predictive maintenance, and other software and instrumentation techniques applied to heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, and other building systems. IBO technologists generally aim to improve the occupant experience, reduce operating and maintenance costs, mitigate pollutant emissions, and/or enhance interactivity between buildings and power grids.
The 2026 IBO Workshop will feature a morning session on research, including speakers from industry, academia, and national laboratories discussing recent findings and newly developed tools. The afternoon session will focus on education, examining how universities teach IBO materials today and how IBO curricula could be improved to better serve the evolving needs of research groups and industry practitioners.
8:30 – 9:00 Breakfast
9:00 – 9:30 Welcome and introductions
Research 1: Comparative Field Deployment of Model Predictive Control and Reinforcement
Learning for Residential HVAC
9:30 – 9:50 Elias Pergantis (Trane): MPC Field Deployment
9:50 – 10:10 Ozan Baris (Google): RL Field Deployment
10:10 – 10:30 Mario Berges (CMU): Moderated Discussion
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee break
Research 2: Empowering the Next Generation of Building Professionals: Leveraging BOPTEST for Education, Workforce Training, and Al Experimentation
11:00 – 12:00 Ettore Zanetti (LBNL)
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch
Education presentations
13:00 – 13:20 Robert Grob (Esslingen): History, Operation and Effect of the German Working Group of UAS Professors in Building Automation and Energy Systems
13:20 – 13:40 Gregor Henze (Boulder): Building Energy Systems Engineering (BESE) Education Goes Global
13:40 – 14:00 Kevin Kircher (Purdue): Multi-Campus Education on Distributed Energy Resources
14:00 – 14:30 Todd Rossi (Rutgers): Integrating Al as a Learning and Professional Tool in University HVAC Education
14:30 – 15:00 Coffee break
15:00 – 16:00 Education Discussion
16:00 – 17:00 Informal networking or optional tours
17:00 – 18:00 Break
18:00 – 20:00 Dinner at Ripple & Co. (1007 Main St., Lafayette)