Energy Saving Potential with Improved Concrete in Ice Rink Floor Designs

Authors: Ehsan B. Haghighi, Pavel Makhnatch, Jörgen Rogstam

Abstract:

The ice rink floor is the largest heat exchanger in an ice rink. The important part of the floor consists of concrete, and the thermophysical properties of this concrete have strong influence on the energy usage of the ice rink. The thermal conductivity of concrete can be increased by using iron ore as ballast. In this study, the Transient Plane Source (TPS) method showed an increase up to 58.2% of thermal conductivity comparing the improved concrete to standard concrete. Moreover, two alternative ice rink floor designs are suggested to incorporate the improved concrete. A 2D simulation was developed to investigate the temperature distribution in the conventional and the suggested designs. The results show that the suggested designs reduce the temperature difference between the ice surface and the brine by 1-4˚C, when comparing with convectional designs at equal heat flux. This primarily leads to an increased coefficient of performance (COP) in the primary refrigeration cycle and secondly to a decrease in the secondary refrigerant pumping power. The suggested designs have great potential to reduce the energy usage of ice rinks. Depending on the load scenario in the ice rink, the saving potential lies in the range of 3-10% of the refrigeration system energy usage. This calculation is based on steady state conditions and the potential with improved dynamic behavior is expected to increase the potential saving.

Keywords: Concrete, iron ore, ice rink, energy saving.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1337237

References:

[1] K. Leinonen, S. Szemberg, R. van Rijswijk, I. I. Federation, "Chapter 3: Technical guidelines of an ice rink," IIHF Arena Manual.: International Ice Hockey Federation, (Online: 2014-01-09) www.iihf.com.
[2] ASHRAE, "Chapter 35: Ice Rinks," in ASHRAE Handbook - Refrigeration: ASHRAE, 2006.
[3] Å Melinder, Handbook on indirect refrigeration and heat pump systems. Stockholm: Svenska Kyltekniska Föreningen, (Online: 2014-01-09) http://www.effsys2.se,.
[4] J. Mun and M. Krati, "Experimental analysis of heat transfer from ice rink floor," International Solar Energy Conference, ISEC2006, Denver, 2006, pp. 681-687.
[5] M. Ouzzane et al., "Cooling load and environmental measurements in a Canadian indoor ice rink," ASHRAE Transactions - Papers presented at the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, vol. 112 PART 2, 2006, pp. 538-545.
[6] R. Somrani, J. Mun, and M. Krarti, "Heat transfer beneath ice-rink floors," Build. Environ., vol. 43, 2008, pp. 1687–1698.
[7] M. Krati and J. Mun, "An ice rink floor thermal model suitable for whole-building energy simulation analysis," Build. Environ., vol. 46, 2011, pp. 1087-1093.
[8] J. Brown and S. F. Pearson, "Temperature distribution in ice rink floors," in Aust Refrig Air Cond Heat, vol. 40, 1986, pp. 12, 14-15, 17.
[9] M. Takeda, T. Onishi, S. Nakakubo, and S. Fujimoto, "Physical Properties of Iron-Oxide Scales on Si-Containing Steels at High Temperature," Mater T Jim, vol. 50, 2009, pp. 2242-2246.
[10] P. Makhnatch, "Technology and Energy Inventory of Ice Rinks," Stockholm , EGI-2011-075MSC, 2011.
[11] S. E. Gustafsson and T. Long, "Transient plane source (TPS) technique for measuring thermal properties of building materials," Fire and Material, vol. 19, 1995, pp. 43–49.
[12] S. E. Gustafsson, "Transient plane source (TPS) technique for thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity measurements of solid materials," Review of Scientific Instruments, vol. 62, no. 3, 1991, pp. 797–804.
[13] Thermal Conductivity Measurements. (Online: 2014-01-09). http://www.hotdiskinstruments.com/
[14] E. Karawacki and B. M. Suleiman, "Dynamic plane source technique for simultaneous determination of specific heat, thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of metallic samples," Meas. Sci. Technol, vol. 2, 1991, pp. 744-750.
[15] T. L. Bergman, A. S. Lavine, F. P. Incropera, and D. P. DeWitt, Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011.
[16] F. Mear, P. Yot, R. Viennois, and M. Ribes, "Mechanical behaviour and thermal and electrical properties of foam glass," Ceram Int, vol. 33, 2007, pp. 543-550.
[17] L. Eriksson and J. Hägglund, Handbok-Skumglas i mark- och vägbyggnad. Linköping: Swedish Geotechnical Institute, 2008.
[18] HeatLink Group Inc. (Online: 2014-01-09). http://www.heatlink.com/
[19] L. Eriksson and J. Ö. Hägglund, "Handbok. Skumglas i mark- och vägbyggnad," Statens geotekniska institut (SGI) Linköping, 2008.
[20] J. Rogstam, M. Dahlberg, and J. Hjert, "Stoppsladd fas 3 - Energianvändning i svenska ishallar," Stockholm, 2012. (Online: 2014-01-09). http://www.stoppsladd.se/
[21] E. Granryd et al., Refrigerating Engineering. Stockholm: Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, 2009.
[22] E. B. Haghighi et al., "Measurement of temperature-dependent viscosity of nanofluids and its effect on pumping power in cooling systems," in International Conference on Applied Energy, Pretoria, 2013.
[23] Technical Data. (Online: 2014-01-09). http://www.cal-chlor.com/