Why are skating rinks kept at temperatures above 0°C?

You may have gone to the skating rink more than once. In recent decades, the installation of such recreation areas has become very popular in cities that do not have natural slopes. For example, Canada This is a country with large surfaces of water that freeze over in winter and provide ideal places for safe and free skating.

However, areas located around the equator and in tropical areas do not have this advantage, and with the onset of cold weather and Christmas they decide to install them artificially. To do this, the responsible institutions must hand over the project to refrigeration companies

who are responsible for managing the placement and maintenance of walkways, as well as finding the best location for them: level floors without much slope.

Tropic of Capricorn: more than just an imaginary line

In order for citizens to use these rollers safely and practically, their average thickness should be between 6 and 8 centimeters. But how can you preserve this layer of ice in the middle of cities and environments where there are almost never freezing temperatures? Well, it’s all thanks to the combination of two main cooling systems: the cooling bed and the pump system.

BLANKET FOR THE FRIDGE

Under the name cooling blanketIn fact, there is a hidden system of many tubes that are distributed throughout the entire interior of the outer layer of ice. Are pipelines They are responsible for transporting liquids at very low temperatures, thereby freezing irrigated water. Generally, freezing liquids Typically, monoethylene glycol or polypropylene glycol are used, which move at great speed but maintain a temperature that does not exceed the permissible temperature. -12°С. In addition, the system has two collectorsone at the inlet and the other at the outlet, which completely closes the mechanism, preventing fluid loss

The spaces between the tubes are usually filled with water, causing it to freeze, forming visible ice sheets and causing subsequence on the track itself. As if that weren’t enough, the pipes have one-way insulation system, that is, the non-freezing liquid can cool water located outside, but the temperature of this same water does not affect the temperature of the freezing liquid. This allows the liquid to always remain the same temperature, regardless of whether it comes into contact with more or less warm water.

PUMPING SYSTEM

Not a single element of this system would make sense without a good pumping mechanism responsible for distributing the freezing liquid throughout the entire route. These are powerful systems that in most cases allow you to move a total of 65,000 liters liquids per hour.

It should be noted that one of the most important points in order for the track to remain in good condition and function correctly is control and maintenance

. It is necessary to ensure that the pumps are working properly to keep the ice hard, and to remove any remaining snow caused by the friction of the skates. These grooves are usually filled daily with water, which freezes in a short time, again thanks to the fantastic action of the tubes.