Case study
Curl Aberdeen
Ammonia refrigerating system for ice rink
Key information
Client:
Curl Aberdeen ice rink
Supplier:
Star Refrigeration Ltd.
Type of facility:
Central ammonia refrigerating plant
System start-up:
2004
The "Curl Aberdeen" ice rink in Summerhill, Aberdeen, is one of the centres for Scotland's traditional winter sport of curling. In order to cut back on the increased operating and maintenance costs, the operator instructed the company Star Refrigeration to plan and install an efficient system running on natural refrigerants. The company which has provided high efficiency cooling solutions to around 70 % of the UK’s ice and curling rinks designed a refrigerating system that runs with ammonia.
Requirement
An efficient system running on natural refrigerants should reduce the ice rink’s operating and maintenance costs and fulfil the high demands made of the ice surface in terms of constant quality, hardness and temperature.
Solution
Star Refrigeration installed a critical charged central ammonia plant with a mere 80 kg of ammonia. The system has a refrigerating capacity of 253 kW to cool the secondary refrigerant glycol to -10 °C before it is pumped through a network of pipes integrated in the floor of the rink.
Technical data
Cooling capacity:
253 kW
Refrigerant volume:
80 kg
Secondary refrigerant:
Glycol
Main components:
2 reciprocating compressors, 1 accumulator on the intake side, 2 glycol pumps, 2 drive motors, 1 electronic control panel, 1 external evaporative condenser
Special features:
A desuperheater on the high-pressure side makes thermal use of the compression heat of the refrigerant. The energy recovered in this way is used for the underfloor heating of the remaining facilities apart from the ice rink itself.
