Refriac chillers equipped with SWEP evaporators provide ice skating fun year-round in Brazil!
SWEP’s range of high-performance evaporators provides a strong heat transfer solution for Refriac chillers to help maintain the perfect ice rink conditions all year.
Provided a line of chillers for freezing ice-skating rinks
Refriac is a family-owned Brazilian chiller manufacturer with more than 45 years of experience in the industrial chiller market. They have manufactured more than 5,500 pieces of equipment since their inception. Since 2010, Refriac has provided a line of chillers for freezing ice-skating rinks that, together with SWEP’s brazed plate heat exchanger technology, make the dream come true for ice-skaters – even in the hot Brazilian summers!
Because Brazil is a tropical country, temperatures that drop below zero in large cities are very rare. The only option to practice winter sports such as ice skating is at local ice-skating rinks in places like shopping malls or festivals.
Brazilian ice-skating rinks are mainly used for recreational skating, but they are also used for entertainment and sports such as hockey, figure skating, speed skating, and curling.
Energy-efficient solutions
According to Refriac, Brazil currently has approximately 6 fixed ice rinks and 20 itinerant ice rinks which can provide a mobile ice rink option for various parts of the country. Refriac chillers provide energy-efficient solutions for 60% of these mobile rinks.
High-performance evaporation
With the need to keep the mobile rinks compact, and easy to transport and install, Refriac chose to use SWEP P80ASHx70 evaporators in its equipment. The chillers use R404A refrigerant to cool the ethylene glycol water solution. This solution is then pumped at -15°C (5°F) through the pipeline installed under the ice rink to freeze the water above it. It is necessary to generate a layer of ice approximately 8 cm (3 inches) thick so that the skates glide easily and the ice on the track stays dry.
The SWEP 80AS range offers high-performance evaporation combined with a smaller size and increased cost savings. It fits perfectly within the chiller design. The P80AS also adds the advantages of SWEP’s patented AsyMatrix® technology, offering increased thermal performance and reduced pressure drop. The optimization significantly increases heat flux, saving energy and giving impressive efficiency gains for high-efficiency chiller and heat pump systems.
Learn more about SWEP's range of brazed plate heat exchangers for chiller applications by clicking here!