Almost 50 years in the industry are the letter of introduction of the professional of the month of this edition. A Panamanian who with his experience seeks to help improve and strengthen the development of air conditioning and refrigeration in his country.
by Alejandra García Vélez
It is not surprising that one of the characters most admired by the professional of the month of this edition, the Engineer Pedro Vásquez McKay, is Nikola Tesla, one of the main architects of commercial electricity in addition to alternating current. Vásquez, born on the sixth of June in Panama, as an electrical engineer cannot help but admire a man who contributed so much to this field.
The beginning
A father of four and a lover of reading, Vásquez recalls that his involvement in the air conditioning industry began in the 1960s, when as a newly graduated engineer he joined Arawak, a construction contractor for the Panama Canal Company and the U.S. Military in the former canal zone.
As for this experience, the professional of the month states that the owner of Arawak, the engineer Julio Méndez, was the one who guided his first steps in the theory and practice of the design and installation of air conditioning; "He instilled in me for life the love of work and professional respect for clients and colleagues that I have always maintained," he said.
Faced with those first projects, which were giving him the guidelines for the future and teaching him the secrets of the trade, Pedro Vásquez remembers that when he designed his first office building, with its four facades in glass, he considered in the calculations all the factors of solar transmission that could occur in the tropical climate of the country through glass. Similarly, when testing the system, which had independent self-contained equipment in each office, the conditions of the premises were adjusted to the design.
However, says the professional of the month, when starting the commercial operation with only a few offices running scattered throughout the building, his units could not maintain a condition of comfort in them, because the empty offices that surrounded them and that had their equipment turned off reached internal temperatures of almost 38⁰C, being that heat transmitted through walls and floors to the offices in use, adding a large thermal load that was not considered in the design. The above case left him with a great teaching in terms of taking care of detail and analyzing all the factors that can arise during an installation.
Achievements and challenges
The guest of this edition, is recognized for being the president of the Panamanian Association of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (APAYRE), and regarding his achievements at the head of this association highlights that thanks to the support of the members of APAYRE it was achieved that the Technical Board of Engineering and Architecture adopted as an official document of the Republic of Panama, the Air Conditioning and Ventilation Regulations (RAV) that this guild made.
Although he also points out that one of the main challenges for 2011 is to achieve the application and compliance of the RAV in all air conditioning works in the country. Likewise, it hopes to continue working on fulfilling APAYRE's objective, which is "to raise the quality and safety of the design and installation of air conditioning works in accordance with current technical development."
The professional of the month also highlights, in terms of the development of the industry in his country, that Panama is advancing at great speed and currently finds a marked economic growth that can be seen in the construction industry; In addition, taking into account the tropical climate of the Central American country, it is essential to have the latest in the CVCAR market in equipment and techniques.
Finally, the professional explains the situation of the industry in Panama as follows. "Panama, a tropical country with a latitude of 8⁰ North has a lot of sunny days, in which the average temperature in the capital is about 32⁰C with high humidity. That is why to maintain comfort in offices and residences, the use of air conditioning is essential, which has led to a wide commercialization of these equipment. With the cost of electricity at 0.16 dollars per kWh, higher than most countries in the area, the financial burden of companies and citizens falls on the electrical energy consumed, so it is necessary to use air conditioning equipment with the best energy efficiency. "
In that sense, suppliers and contractors must think of strategies to be more productive and competitive, for Vásquez the key is to invest in personnel and equipment that allow facilities with better energy efficiency, in view of the constant and inevitable growth in the cost of electricity, which will affect the performance of current and future projects.
It is important to note that our professional of the month has worked at the University of Panama as a professor of the faculties of engineering and architecture, also in the Ministry of Commerce and Industries as founding director of the Panamanian Commission of Industrial and Technical Standards (COPANIT), as well as in the Ministry of Public Works in the technical board of engineering and architecture as well as coordinator of the permanent advisory committee of the national electrical regulations.
