With a background in refrigeration systems, Dermot has worked in the refrigeration industry for 20 years in various capacities. He joined Star Refrigeration in 1991. He worked as a site installation, service and maintenance engineer before moving to the project department in 1994. In the project department he was part of a team overseeing the design and installation of bespoke industrial refrigeration plant for distribution centres and food factories. In 1997 he was sponsored by Star Refrigeration to attend university where he qualified with a BEng in Integrated Engineering.

In 2000, he became the design manager of the Derby design office where he was responsible for a team of design engineers developing the detailed design of refrigeration systems from concept to final commissioning. These included large industrial direct ammonia systems, carbon dioxide/ ammonia cascade systems, ammonia glycol systems, R404A system for both small and very large distribution and storage facilities. He was also responsible for the development of a range of air and water cooled ammonia chillers and a transcritical CO2 air handling/ heat pump unit.

Whilst working full time in the role as design manager, he completed a PhD “To Improve the Heat Transfer Performance of an Ammonia Air Cooler”.

In late 2010 Dermot transferred to Star Technical Solutions the technical advisory service of Star Refrigeration as a Senior Consultant bring both technical and practical refrigeration expertise.

Dermot’s principal interests are in the design of more efficient refrigeration systems and troubleshooting of faulty, inefficient or unreliable equipment. He also has a wide experience of safety issues related to ammonia and carbon dioxide systems. He has published many papers for the International Institute of Refrigeration on the subject of ammonia refrigeration.