Ice Rink Vortex Water Treatment System

This project will evaluate performance of a water treatment system. This technology can be used in all ice rink facilities to replace conventional systems. This system can potentially offer significant energy savings and reduced maintenance costs by creating ice with fewer microscopic air bubbles. This reduces its insulation capacity, thereby allowing a higher ice temperature (26°F instead of 18°F, for example), and allowing for a lower temperature for water (120°F instead of 140°F, for example) required to melt ice for resurfacing.

Indoor ice rinks are used for many types of sports and recreational activities, including hockey, figure skating, speed skating, and basic ice skating. Depending upon the type of sports, demands for the ice quality vary widely. For example, hockey players like to have hard ice while figure skaters prefer soft ice. Furthermore, forming a good skating surface isn't as simple as making a tray of ice. Freezing a rink correctly takes many steps, and ice that is the best quality for one sport may not be good enough for another. Beside the hardness of ice, water contaminants (such as minerals, chemicals, and dissolved air) affect the freezing temperature. Therefore, the water quality used to make the ice affects energy consumption in addition to ice quality. This field assessment validates energy savings by treating ice rink water using the Realice water treatment system. However, it is imperative to note that accurate energy savings estimates must take into account many variables including: resurfacing frequency due to skate rink usage, occupancy variations, and temperature variations monitored over a three-month period.