Volume 46: Energy Transitions toward Carbon Neutrality: Part IX

Design of energy efficient ice-skating rink using phase change material Tran Le Vu, Sivanand Somasundaram, Swapnil Dubey, Govind Harikumar, Srinivasa Rao Purimitla, Jacques Mouchet

Abstract

Conventional ice-skating rinks require an intensive refrigeration load and continuous use of chiller which results in a substantial energy consumption. Therefore, novel, and sustainable alternatives are required to make more energy efficient ice-skating rinks. In this study, we propose a novel first-of-a-kind PCM (Phase Change Material) based ice skating rink and report the development of computational tool based on CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) to study various design aspects of such innovative system. The overall results show the significance of this model in providing a powerful tool to select suitable PCM, test operating parameters such as inlet temperature and flow rate, as well as predict the ice rink performance under different scenarios.

Keywords Ice-skating rinks, CFD, PCM