Feature
ENTER THE HUMBLE ICE STORAGE SOLUTION Commercially , ice storage for thermal applications was mainstreamed in the 1930s , but much further back in history , documentation has been found that Greek king Alexander the Great used ice for cooling applications around 300BC while other historians reveal widespread use by the Romans in the 3rd century AD – albeit that this technology was reserved and limited to only the elite and wealthy .
In similar research , Chinese and Japanese artefacts reveal that the eastern world had already advanced by storing ice ( in what was known as ice houses or ice pits that were fully or partly sunken in heavily shaded areas ) as far back as 1100BC .
“ Today , ice thermal storage technology is advanced and comes in a variety of systems and sizes . Many of which have undergone decades of development . The system we specialise in for example , an ice ball system , has reached its third generation of design in order to perfect some of the challenges experienced over the years with earlier versions . The ice ball system was developed by French inventor Jean Patry over about a 30-year period ,” notes Christo Vermeulen , director and Cryogel specialist at Intramech .
The prime purpose of ice thermal storage is to use energy at night , or outside of peak periods , to build up a predetermined bank of ice large enough to partially , or fully supplement cooling needs in a variety of applications .
These include both air conditioning and refrigeration applications , and as examples include :
• Air-conditioning applications º Hospitals º Shopping malls º Office buildings º Data centres º Educational institutions º Airports º Sports & Entertainment facilities º Hotels º Public Buildings º Mining º District cooling
Evapco Evapco
An image showing the ice built around the coils inside a tank .
This is how the ice pieces inside the tank look as they are melting down or ‘ burning ’.
“ Data centres being actively developed around the world have been using ice thermal storage for years , but more recently this application of the technology has been gaining popularity in South Africa as a sustainable and energy efficient solution for this market . This will be an important step to reduce peak power demand which is currently more critical in our country than overall consumption ”, says Garid Glenn , Head of Marketing at Baltimore Aircoil Company .
• Industrial refrigeration applications º Food processing industries º Pharmaceutical industries º Abattoirs º Refrigerated warehouses and distribution centres º Bottling plants º The dairy industry º Power plants º Breweries º Entertainment venues
“ When sizing the system your two main considerations are addressing the buildings heat load , and secondly how long you have to build the ice in the tanks .”
Continued on page 15
www . hvacronline . co . za RACA Journal I April 2021 13