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How Do They Make And Preserve Indoor Ice Rinks For Skating And Hockey?
A whole lot of work goes into making and preserving the surface area of an ice rink in good shape. The minor variations in the attributes of the surface area can make a massive difference between a mediocre rink and a world-class skating surface. Since indoor ice rinks can be used for a number of activities, such as ice hockey and skating, it goes without saying that the top quality of the ice makes all the difference to the overall performance of the athletes.
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Producing a great skating surface is a lot more difficult than producing ice cubes in the freezer. Freezing an ice rink adequately can entail up to a dozen different processes and, in some of these stages, involves making ice the width of a sheet of paper. In some instances, like supplying the marks to be used in ice hockey, a layer of paint is utilized. It truly is crucial to keep in mind that ice which is appropriate for one sport might be completely unacceptable for another.
Ice skating was initially a means of getting round the frozen rivers of Europe and it was not until ice skating areas became readily available all year round did sports like ice hockey and speed skating truly establish themselves. Currently, the United States alone has almost 2000 indoor skating rinks and new ones can cost millions of dollars to build. The refrigeration science used is the same as what's utilized for water coolers and refrigerators with one critical difference. The refrigerant won't cool the surface area of the ice directly but instead cools a solution of brine (a solution of calcium chloride) that circulates via an intricate pipe system beneath the surface of the ice.
The temperature of the refrigeration system is manually set and is computed on the basis of indoor and outdoor temperatures. To produce the ice surface, 1000s of gallons of freezing brine are pumped through the pipes, which are embedded in the ice-bearing concrete slab. The slab can be found between the skating surface area and a layer of insulation which enables the ice to shrink and expand as the temperature varies. The brine maintains the temperature of the ice bearing slab beneath 32°F to ensure that the water that is spread on it can freeze. Beneath the layer of insulation, there is a layer of heated concrete which stops the ground under the rink from freezing and expanding and possibly splitting the surface area of the rink.
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