© iStockphoto/Barcin

Perfect climate from the ice tank

The new building at the St. Georgen loca­tion doesn’t just shine on the surface. Its cold heart beats under the parking lot.


People who park their cars in the parking lot at the new elec­tronics produc­tion facility opened in March by ebm-papst in St. Georgen-Hagen­moos prob­ably have no idea that there is a cistern filled with 500 cubic meters of ice water beneath their feet. It has a diam­eter of 16 meters and a depth of four meters and serves as a heat reser­voir that supplies the entire building. Heat from ice? It sounds para­dox­ical, but the system makes use of a phys­ical prin­ciple called heat of crys­tal­liza­tion. This heat is released when water under­goes a tran­si­tion from the liquid to the solid phase. The energy released during freezing, the heat of fusion, is extracted from the water with a heat exchanger and used to heat water.

A so-called regen­er­a­tive heat exchanger, which is also in the tank, thaws the ice with heat extracted from exhaust air and completes the circuit. If warm outdoor temper­a­tures make it neces­sary to cool the building instead of heating it, a circu­la­tion pump routes the cooled water through the heating pipes.The ice tank is serviced through an inspec­tion shaft. Divers can stay in the tank’s cold water for up to thirty minutes to perform any required work — and to connect the second tank to the first one when the second phase of construc­tion is completed in March 2017. Then the system will guar­antee the energy supply for the entire new facility in Hagen­moos.

The energy released during freezing, the heat of fusion, is extracted from the water with a heat exchanger and used to heat water. A so-called regen­er­a­tive heat exchanger, which is also in the tank, thaws the ice with heat extracted from exhaust air and completes the circuit. If warm outdoor temper­a­tures make it neces­sary to cool the building instead of heating it, a circu­la­tion pump routes the cooled water through the heating pipes.The ice tank is serviced through an inspec­tion shaft. Divers can stay in the tank’s cold water for up to thirty minutes to perform any required work — and to connect the second tank to the first one when the second phase of construc­tion is completed in March 2017. Then the system will guar­antee the energy supply for the entire new facility in Hagen­moos.

eisspeicher

The cistern is filled with 500 cubic meters of ice water, has a diam­eter of 16 meters and a depth of four meters and serves as a heat reser­voir that supplies the entire building.

The ice tank is serviced through an inspec­tion shaft. Divers can stay in the tank’s cold water for up to thirty minutes to perform any required work — and to connect the second tank to the first one when the second phase of construc­tion is completed in March 2017. Then the system will guar­antee the energy supply for the entire new facility in Hagen­moos.

“This energy concept is virtu­ally predes­tined for energy-inten­sive produc­tion facil­i­ties,” says Tobias Maurer, managing partner of H. Maurer GmbH + Co. KG, respon­sible for the design and construc­tion of the ice reser­voir. “They depend on constant indoor temper­a­tures and humidity throughout the year and generate a large amount of waste heat that we can use to thaw the ice reser­voir.” The ice reser­voir is not only an energy concept with a future. Peter Metzger, Director Busi­ness Devel­op­ment and Marketing in St. Georgen, is also enthu­si­astic, saying “When the second ice reser­voir with another 500 cubic meters of water is brought online, it will result in a 63 percent reduc­tion of CO2 emis­sions compared with a conven­tional energy concept. That’s a very convincing value for us.” The company, with its strategic focus on energy effi­ciency, accepts that the construc­tion costs will only be amor­tized after twelve years.

The ice reser­voir is not only an energy concept with a future. Peter Metzger, Director Busi­ness Devel­op­ment and Marketing in St. Georgen, is also enthu­si­astic, saying “When the second ice reser­voir with another 500 cubic meters of water is brought online, it will result in a 63 percent reduc­tion of CO2 emis­sions compared with a conven­tional energy concept. That’s a very convincing value for us.” The company, with its strategic focus on energy effi­ciency, accepts that the construc­tion costs will only be amor­tized after twelve years.

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