There’s no business like snow business

Chillers to provide air conditioning and refrigeration for the recent Winter Olympics at Turin were supplied by York, as well as snow guns for the Alpine slopes. Two water-cooled centrifugal chillers each delivered 1500 kW of cooling capacity for the air-conditioning at the Oval Ice Rink, supplying chilled water at 7°C. Three water-cooled brine screw chillers cooled the ice at the rink. They each have a cooling capacity of 550 kW and supplied brine at –16°C. They use HFC507 as the refrigerant and can be used for air conditioning in the summer, when the venue will be used as an exhibition centre. In a separate contract worth Eu3.3 million, York supplied a range of equipment to ensure 37 km of alpine ski-ing trails had sufficient snow for the duration of the Olympics. It provided 140 new automatic snow producers and replaced 50 existing guns. The main machine room was extended with snow-making pumps, air compressors and a second computer. A second machine room was built to feed the new snow guns and the existing booster station automated. The water supply was extended to 1500 m3/h.

Related links:

• gbr.york.com/