Cool under pressure: Polygon keeps ice rink cool for curling championships

Polygon UK has helped solve a unique climate-control challenge for an ice rink hosting an international curling tournament.

The Dumfries Ice Bowl in Scotland hosted this year’s Scottish and English Curling Championships, a high-level competition that requires the ice surface to be kept in prime condition. Any changes in temperature and humidity at the venue could cause melting and crystallization, negatively affecting the playing surface and impacting the competition.

Unable to keep up

The challenge came from the fact that the additional numbers of spectators expected in the venue would affect the ambient conditions through their body heat and the moisture contained within their clothing. The in-house air conditioning system wasn’t capable of keeping up with these additional demands presented by the championships.

With limited available options, the Dumfries Ice Bowl decided to bring in outside experts that could meet the demands within the tight time frame of two weeks without overcomplicating the issue. Polygon UK was selected to find a solution so that the championships could proceed without any interruptions.

An all-around effective solution

The Polygon team reached a cost-effective and energy efficient solution. This was based on running additional cooling lines through the venue’s existing fresh-air intake system and powering them through the existing electrical supply instead of using a fossil-fuel burning generator.

The Polygon team had experience with similar situations from previous projects and could calculate the required level of cooling based on the anticipated temperature and humidity changes caused by the expected increased number of additional spectators in the venue.

After being implemented, the temporary system had a humidistat included so that it was activated automatically based on target levels, while data on atmospheric conditions was constantly monitored and recorded. To fully de-risk the situation, a standby back up-up unit was ready to be deployed if necessary.