Experimental Analysis of Heat Transfer From Ice Rink Floors

This paper describes an experimental set-up to evaluate the refrigeration loads for ice rink floors under controlled conditions. The ice-rink set-up was instrumented to measure the temperatures along various locations within the ice-rink floor including the water/ice layer. In addition, the energy used to freeze the water is monitored over the entire charging cycle to evaluate the performance of the ice rink floor for various insulation thermal resistance values (or R-values). Four floor insulation configurations are considered in the experimental analysis of R-0 (no insulation), R-4.2, R-6.7 and R-10 (in IP unit: hr.ft2 .°F/Btu). The impact of the air temperature above the ice rink is also evaluated. The experimental results confirm that the addition of the thermal insulation beneath the ice-rink floor reduces the refrigeration load, decreased the time required to freeze the water above the ice rink, and helps maintain lower average ice temperature.Copyright © 2006 by ASME