Investigating thermal performance of an ice rink cooling system with an underground thermal storage tank

This study deals with mathematical modeling and energy analysis of an ice rink cooling system with an underground thermal energy storage tank. The cooling system consists of an ice rink, chiller unit, and spherical thermal energy storage tank. An analytical model is developed for finding thermal performance of the cooling system. The model is based on formulations for transient heat transfer problem outside the thermal energy storage tank, for the energy needs of chiller unit, and for the ice rink. The solution of the thermal energy storage tank problem is obtained using a similarity transformation and Duhamel superposition techniques. Analytical expressions for heat gain of the ice rink and energy consumption of the chiller unit are derived as a function of inside design air, ambient air, and thermal energy storage tank temperatures. An interactive computer program in Matlab based on the analytical model is prepared for finding hourly variation of water temperature in the thermal energy storage tank, coefficient of performance of the chiller, suitable storage tank volume depending on ice rink area, and timespan required to attain an annually periodic operating condition. Results indicate that operation time of span 6-7 years will be obtained periodically for the system during 10 years operating time.