Experimental cooling load analysis of ice rinks

• Main Authors: Rogstam, Jörgen, Karampour, Mazyar
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: KTH, Energiteknik 2011
• Subjects: Energy Engineering; Energiteknik; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-138456

Ice rinks for ice hockey use approximately 1000 MWh per year. These figures are based on statistics from over 100 Swedish ice rinks. The refrigeration system accounts for in the range of 35 to 75% of the total energy usage in the ice rinks, with an average value of 43%. This study evaluated a method to field measure the refrigeration system to establish the cooling capacity, which with minor corrections is equal to the ice surface heat load. The performance of the distribution system and at the main components of the heat load is in focus in this study. To analyze the performance of the ice rinks refrigeration system an "internal method" was used. In this method the compressor is used as a mass flow meter and therefore there is no need installing an external mass flow meter. The refrigerant mass flow rate is calculated by an energy balance over the compressor. By knowing the mass flow, enthalpy of the refrigerant, etc. the cooling capacity and COP of the system can be calculated. During the evaluation period the average cooling capacity corrected for the ground heat gain and the brine pump power was 98.5 kW and the corresponding heat load based on the surface ice sheet conditions was estimated to 92.5 kW. This represents a deviation of 7% which is a measure of the modelling accuracy compared to the measurements. QC 20140114