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FIT FOR THE OLYMPICS WITH COOLING TECHNOLOGY FROM AST BEIJING ICE SPORTS TRAINING CENTRE Author Photos
Claus Alber AST Eis- und Solartechnik GmbH, AT – 6604 Höfen, www.ast.at
The Beijing Ice Sports Training Centre will serve as competition venue for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Supplied by AST China with the complete ice and refrigeration technology, the sports centre offers a total of four ice rinks for ice hockey, speed skating, curling and figure skating. The high-end technology used makes it possible to meet the requirements of all ice sports. In addition to the sliding center for bobsleigh, skeleton and luge competitions in Yanqing, AST was able to complete another major project for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games with the Beijing Ice Sports Training Centre. As one of the largest ice sports centres in Asia, it serves both training and competition. The ice rinks are located on different levels. On the second floor, two 30 x 60 m ice hockey fields with 2,000 seats provide an impressive spectator experience. Equipped with scoreboard screens on both sides, the fields can be used for daily training of athletes as well as for competitions. The rinks for figure skating, short track and curling are located on the floor above. A special dehumidification and air-conditioning system maintains the climate in the ice halls with their different ice temperatures. They ensure a smooth training and competition environment for the athletes, as well as a comfortable experience for the audience in the respective halls. 58
The AST China team designed and built all four of these training and competition ice rinks as CO2 direct evapo ration systems. In this way, CO2 refrigeration technology celebrated its premiere in the construction of ice rinks in the People‘s Republic of China. The main components of the plants were supplied by international manufacturers – the concrete slabs with refrigeration systems were designed and installed “state of the art“ with welded, jacketed high-pressure piping made of copper. The Swedish CO2 refrigeration specialist EKA provided support as a consultant for design and system dimensioning. The intelligent, fully automatic control system of the ice rink, which was developed by the AST China team, can monitor the operating status of the entire refrigeration system in real time and regulate it precisely in the range from -3° C to -11° C. It is thus able to achieve the different ice temperatures for short track speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey and curling. The systems all comply with IIHF, ISU and WCF requirements. sb 3/2021
