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Team spirit : GEA and partners take refrigeration to new level
Speed , precision and experience are success factors in speed skating and ice hockey , as well as in project management . GEA Heating and Refrigeration Technologies and its project partners , the Gesellschaft für Kälte- und Klimatechnik ( Society for Refrigeration and Air Conditioning
Technology ) and the engineering firm Möller & Meyer , achieved a cool feat for the Erfurt Ice Sports Center in Erfurt , Germany .
All text and images courtesy of GEA
During the short summer break from the beginning of May to the end of August 2021 , all parties involved succeeded in refurbishing the refrigeration system at the Erfurt Ice Sports Center in record time . GEA supplied three SP1 SB-5A single-stage screw compressors for the ice sports center . Those responsible at the Erfurt Ice Sports Center have high hopes and expectations of the newly installed technology . Initial evaluations since commissioning until May 2022 show that operating and maintenance costs have already been noticeably reduced . Furthermore , the use of 30 tons of the natural refrigerant ammonia ( NH3 ) with a global warming potential ( GWP ) of zero has always been a fundamental component of refrigeration technology in Erfurt and reduces the CO2 footprint of the entire plant .
Competitors , but also amateur athletes and school children , find the best sporting conditions thanks to GEA ' s refrigeration technology .
GEA equipped the Gunda-Niemann-Stirnemann-Halle in Erfurt , Germany ' s best-known ice sports center , with the latest cooling technology .
A lot of ground to cover The center was initially built in 1957 . Today , the Erfurt Ice Sports Center consists of the speed skating hall ( Gunda Niemann Stirnemann Hall ), the ice hockey hall , two functional buildings and the ice technology building . The speed skating hall ( length 190 m , width 90 m , height 17 m , hall floor area approx . 15,000 m ²) houses the 400m speed skating rink ( two competition rinks and one warm-up rink , each four meters wide , totaling 4,760 m ² of ice surface ) and a standard 60x30m ice rink . Up to 4,000 enthusiastic spectators cheer on the speed skaters at top national and international competitions . The ice hockey hall from the 70s has a standard ice field of 60x30m and has 1,500 spectator seats . Training and competitions in figure skating , ice hockey and curling are held here . Also affectionately known as the " Kartoffelhalle " ( Potato Hall ), the ice hockey arena is home to the Black Dragons Erfurt , top club of the Oberliga Nord in Germany .
Heating and cooling The hall interior temperature can be heated to 10 ° C via 77 ceiling air heaters . A ventilation system consisting of ten decentralized units with an air flow rate of 8,000 m ³/ h each ensures good fresh air quality in the hall even when the maximum spectator capacity is utilized . Air dryers are integrated in the ventilation units . This prevents condensation from forming on the supporting structure and " raining " onto the ice surfaces . The ice machine house is located next to the southeast curve of the circular rink . All three ice surfaces are cooled from this location . Ammonia is used as the coolant . In total , cooling pipes with a length of almost 100 km are installed under the ice surfaces . The cooling capacity of all cooling units is 3,068 kW . The heat generated during ice preparation is extracted from the coolant by a heat recovery system and used to heat the speed skating rink . Each of the three ice surfaces can be iced separately and cooled to the desired temperature . If required , the osmosis plant can be put into operation for ice preparation . This makes it possible to remove almost all salt components from the water and significantly improve the ice ' s sliding properties .
A team effort In 2019 , the engineering office Möller & Meyer from nearby Gotha was commissioned by the city of Erfurt to develop a renovation concept for the refrigeration system in the ice sports center in Erfurt and to break down the corresponding costs of the individual trades and services . The aim of the project was to replace the screw compressors that had been in operation since 1997 , as maintenance and repair costs had risen sharply in recent years . In addition , energy costs were to be saved by the sum of all measures in the end . Several variants of the refurbishment and their dependencies were then examined and compiled in terms of costs and schedule dependencies . An important point here was
56 Heat Exchanger World September 2022 www . heat-exchanger-world . com