Professional development programs

Professional Diploma in Building Services – HVAC&R

The definitive training program for the HVAC&R industry, providing essential knowledge and skills to engineering graduates employed in consulting or contracting firms and/or practicing trades workers. The part-time, nine-month online program will increase your exposure to the HVAC&R industry through comprehensive and practical training across four key areas.

Overview

AIRAH's accredited Professional Diploma in Building Services – HVAC&R is the definitive training program for the HVAC&R industry. The program provides students with exposure to the HVAC&R building services industry through comprehensive and practical online training.

The part-time program takes place across nine months and features over 100-hours of topics across four key areas:

1. Fundamentals
2. Equipment and components
3. Systems
4. Practice and performance

In addition to the theoretical content provided across these four topics, the program takes students on a journey of designing an HVAC system over 12 assignments. Feedback from experienced engineers is provided at every step.

Topics

Topic 1 - Fundamentals | 30 hours

• Introduction to practice
• Engineering fundamentals
• Introduction to HVAC&R – System types and applicability
• Introduction to system components
• Psychrometry
• Load and energy estimation
• Comfort conditions
• Refrigeration cycles and refrigerants

Topic 2 - Equipment and components | 10 hours

• Chillers
• Pumps
• Fans
• Heat rejection
• Hot water heaters
• Heat exchange equipment
• Packaged systems

Topic 3 - Systems | 45 hours

• Refrigeration systems
• Air systems
• Water systems
• Electrical systems
• System control
• Thermal storage and mass
• Passive, mixed-mode, and hybrid systems
• System design and selection

Topic 4 - Practice and performance | 15 hours

• Industry practice
• Design and construction process
• Regulation and compliance
• Sustainability
• Bidding and tendering
• Estimating
• Programming
• Design
• Construction
• Commissioning and building tuning
• Operations, maintenance, and facilities management

This program is designed for

This qualification is suitable for recent engineering graduates or those with a trade and/or associated building services background who would like to gain a better understanding of HVAC&R design principles. It has been designed for individuals committed to upgrading their engineering technical skills and businesses committed to developing their workforces.

Benefits for participants

The Professional Diploma in Building Services – HVAC&R helps you fast track your knowledge of HVAC&R, making you even more valuable to employers. The program, running over 9 months, allows participants to study HVAC&R specific topics in a flexible and supportive learning environment.

Benefits for companies and employers

This program is an industry-leading training opportunity that allows its participants to hit the ground running. It requires students to read the course materials and demonstrate their readiness to operate in real world projects. Students are required to undertake their own research to determine answers to design problems. The use of outside course materials – such as finding suppliers’ specification guidelines – is required.

Based on industry guidance, successful participants will exhibit initiative, curiosity, and creativity in their assignments.

Enrolment requirements

The Professional Diploma in Building Services – HVAC&R is designed for recent engineering graduates or those who have a trades background wanting to gain a better understanding of the HVAC&R design principles.

You must be a financial member of AIRAH to enrol in the program. Non-members and student members will be required to join, with the price of a one-year AIRAH Affiliate membership included in their registration. For more information on becoming an AIRAH member, please click here.

Participants must be competent in both written and spoken English and have regular access to a computer and internet connection.

Program fees (inc. GST)

Registration

Registration for the April 2024 intake of the AIRAH accredited Professional Diploma in Building Services – HVAC&R is now open. Please download the registration form below or email [email protected] for information.