“I enjoyed getting to test and learn the principles of a refrigeration system, and from there, many opportunities opened up within the HVACR world — ranging from industrial CO₂ system design to commercial air handlers,” Whitehurst said.

Among his accomplishments is designing state-of-the-art industrial CO₂ compressor racks for large food distribution warehouses. These systems use energy-saving technology like heat reclaim, parallel compressors, and adiabatic gas coolers. He’s also created custom air-handler submittals and quotes for a wide range of applications — from supermarket HVAC to environmental testing chambers.

“This includes modelling of specialized heat exchangers to be installed in each unit to achieve required heating and cooling parameters,” Whitehurst said.

In addition to high-performance commercial applications, Whitehurst also helped quote and design systems for medical and pharmaceutical facilities. And in these types of applications, exactness is everything — they require a high degree of temperature precision that’s achieved through control valves and hot gas modulation.

And with precision comes expertise — which is what Whitehurst is striving for. Or, as he put it exactly, “To be an expert within the industry and help to advance refrigeration technology and understand how it is applied. To be someone who is known for teaching and helping others.”