Evaluation of CO2 Ice rink heat recovery system performance

Sammanfattning: Ice rinks are the largest energy consumers in terms of public buildings due to their simultaneous need of cooling, heating, ventilation, and lighting for different parts of the building which means that these facilities also have a lot of potential for energy saving. Due to the size of the cooling unit in an ice rink the refrigerant charge can become quite high, which potentially has a big impact on the environment. CO2 refrigeration units could cover all these challenges that are linked to ice rink operation. CO2 as a refrigerant has a very low impact on the environment and at the same time it could provide enough energy to cover the heating demands of an ice rink. CO2-based systems should operate in trans-critical mode which affects the performance of the refrigeration system, but by using the released heat that otherwise would be rejected to the ambience the total energy consumption becomes lower. The process of heat recovery is therefore vital for an efficient system. The refrigeration unit can produce enough energy to cover all the heating demands of an ice rink, but only when the heat recovery is controlled properly. The energy recovery method is very important, but it should also be tailored in order to cover all demands. This is because all the subsystems, i.e. demands, have different temperature and load requirements. The energy could be recovered in one or two stages from the refrigeration system. However, hardware is not enough in order to achieve proper operation, the system should also operate in the best conditions (discharge pressure and subcooling) in order to be efficient. The more proper operation, the less energy consumption.  This energy recovery method could also be used as subcooling in climates where the ambient temperature is very high, making CO2 a very efficient solution. Regular refrigerants are still often used in warm countries despite their high environmental impact. A refrigeration system using natural refrigerants and more specific CO2 does not have constraints, however. The only limitation is the wrong operation.