Moisture handling mechanisms in ice rinks

• Main Authors: Pomerancevs Juris, Rogstam Jörgen, Līckrastiņa Agnese
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: EDP Sciences 2020-01-01
• Series: E3S Web of Conferences
• Online Access: https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2020/32/e3sconf_nsb2020_10010.pdf

The paper addresses the moisture handling function in ice rinks. Dehumidification has an important role in ice rinks to avoid structural damages and maintain a sustainable indoor environment. Field measurement analysis in a number of ice rinks in Sweden is performed, showing the indoor climate dependency on the ambient conditions. Indoor temperatures vary between +5°C to +10°C and humidity ratio between 2.5 to 6.0 gH2O/kg of air. [1] Moisture source evaluation shows that the most critical load is imposed by air leakages, while internal loads such as people can generate peaks but have a short-term nature. Control strategy of the dehumidification equipment has a significant impact on the appropriate humidity level and moreover poor controls can easily lead to a 30% energy penalty. [2] [3] In ice rinks it is concluded that the acceptable setpoint is in the range of 0°C to 2°C dewpoint temperature.