Recreation Facility Developer's Manual

About the Recreation Facility Developers manual

The History of the Artificial Ice Rink

The first use of refrigeration was for the preservation of food. As an industry, it became of commercial importance in the early 18th century when men would cut large blocks of ice from frozen lakes for storage in ice houses through the summer.

Ice was first made artificially on an experimental basis around 1820, but it was not until 1834 that Jacob Perkins, an American engineer, perfected the process. Mr. Perkins was the inventor of what was to develop into our modern day vapour compression systems.

Professor John Gamgee built the first artificial ice rink in London,England in 1876. His facility was called the Glaciarium and consisted of a 24' x 40' ice surface frozen by circulating a refrigerated glycerin / water solution through copper pipes beneath the ice surface. Ether was employed as the primary refrigerant. Mechanical refrigeration systems in this era were still not common.

Due to a warm winter in 1890 creating a severe shortage of ice for food preservation, there was an intensive thrust to develop mechanical refrigeration systems. Since that time, the growth in the worldwide mechanical refrigeration market has been phenomenal. This proliferation of reliable mechanical refrigeration systems paved the road for the development of artificial ice rinks throughout the world.

The first artificial indoor ice rink built in Canada was the Patrick Arena in Victoria, British Columbia. This state of the art arena was built by Lester and Frank Patrick in 1911 and was to become the home of the Victoria Cougars who went on to win the Stanley Cup in the 1924-25 season.

EXCERPT

Calcium Chloride versus Glycol

On an indirect refrigeration system a choice must be made between the type of secondary coolant that you select. Both Calcium Chloride and glycol have been successfully used over the years and there are applications where both secondary coolants have an advantage. To a much lesser degree other heat transfer mediums such as methyl alcohol have also been utilized in the ice rink industry.

In regards to energy efficiency, Calcium Chloride is the better choice. Its heat transfer coefficient is much better than glycol. This fact equates to smaller, less expensive chillers for the same heat transfer. The heat transfer in the floor piping system is also better. Due to the superior heat transfer characteristics, the brine pump can be smaller and the required pump horsepower and corresponding energy consumption is reduced with calcium chloride.

Calcium chloride is highly corrosive when not maintained properly. With proper system design and operation it is still the best choice for most ice rink applications. The system components must be selected specifically for the Calcium Chloride. Typically chillers are made out of carbon steel or cuper-nickle. Brine pump shafts and butterfly valve stems should be made out of stainless steel.

With a system utilizing Calcium Chloride, it is imperative that the system is kept full at all times and no air is allowed to come in contact with the internal components. A high-grade environmentally friendly rust inhibitor must be used to ensure equipment longevity. It is good practice to carry out routine in house brine tests to monitor brine strength and pH on a semi annual basis and to request a lab report once a year.

In systems that are occasionally emptied and filled such as a portable system, glycol can be a very good choice. Glycol will reduce the effects of corrosion in systems that are occasionally opened to the air. It is still important to use good quality inhibited glycol such as Dow SR-1 and to ensure that annual lab samples are taken to verify the integrity of the solution.

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