Air Conditioning Ice Bank

What is Ice Bank and Why Use it? What is an ice bank and what is the reason for its use? What is the advantage of using air conditioning ice banks? What are the types of ice banks? And which type of them is available in Frasard Company? We will answer these questions and examine them in detail below.

What is an Ice Bank?

An ice bank is a simple device for storing ice. Inside the ice bank, there are pipes and coils, along with a large reservoir, which constitute its main components.

Inside the pipes, flows an intermediary fluid responsible for either forming ice in the reservoir or utilizing the stored cooling energy in the reservoir.

Outside the pipes, there is also water. Due to its high heat capacity, water stores a significant amount of energy, allowing for the storage of a considerable amount of energy in an ice bank. The cost of energy consumption during peak hours is calculated to be four times that of non-peak hours.

Additionally, during the summer season, an extra 20% is added to this amount. Peak consumption hours for most cities are between 11 AM to 4 PM and 7 PM to 10 PM.

One of the strategies to reduce energy costs is to store energy during off-peak hours and utilize it during peak consumption hours. Air conditioning ice banks are, in fact, devices designed and built for this purpose.

Advantages of Using Air Conditioning Ice Banks

One of the advantages of using air conditioning ice banks is the increase in cooling capacity of the HVAC system.

An ice storage system can function as an independent refrigeration system and provide another cold fluid alongside the fluid produced by the chiller. Therefore, by utilizing air conditioning ice storage, it is possible to select a chiller with lower capacity.

This reduction in chiller capacity is not significant for household applications, but for commercial and office use, it can reach up to 50 percent.

Air conditioning ice banks shift energy consumption hours to cooler nighttime hours. Due to the cooler air during these hours, energy is produced with higher efficiency, resulting in less fuel consumption.

For this reason, the use of ice banks can help reduce carbon dioxide emissions and contribute to environmental improvement.

Types of Ice Banks

Ice banks are classified based on various criteria. The most important criterion for categorizing ice banks is the energy storage and consumption system inside the reservoir, which results in two types of ice banks: internal melting system and external melting system.

In ice bank systems with an internal melting system, the chiller generates a cooling fluid with a temperature above freezing during the day and below freezing at night.

In this system, the cooling fluid that transfers coldness from the chiller operator to the ice storage is a solution of water and ethylene glycol. This fluid can move in two different loops. During the night and off-peak hours of consumption, the chiller operator connects to the ice bank, and the water inside it begins to freeze.

In the internal melting system, the diameter of the ice around the pipes is approximately 6 to 12 centimeters. During the day, the circuit in which the cooling fluid flows is changed, and the water and ethylene glycol solution rotates between the storage and the air conditioning system instead of circulating between the chiller and the ice bank. In fact, during the day, this solution delivers the coldness of the stored ice to the air conditioning system and uses the air conditioning ice storage as a chiller.

In external melting ice banks, the refrigerant freezes the water inside the reservoir by passing through the pipes inside the ice storage. However, the stored energy in these ice storages is utilized using a different method.

In this type of ice bank, water inside the reservoir is directly pumped for energy consumption, allowing for a higher energy consumption rate.

Frasard’s Ice Banks and Purchasing Air Conditioning Ice Banks

Frasard manufactures air conditioning ice banks in two types: External Melting and Internal Melting. Chillers used in conjunction with the external melting type of ice bank come with specialized operators with steel, copper, or stainless-steel coils.

The design of ice storages with Frasard’s external melting system is such that the diameter of the ice formed around the pipes ranges from 3 to 12 centimeters, depending on the system capacity. Additionally, the temperature of the water outlet from these ice storages is around 1 to 2 degrees Celsius.

Frasard’s air conditioning ice banks are equipped with control systems for optimal performance. The controller receives data from pressure and temperature sensors connected to the coils, and after processing the information, it determines the rate of cold-water output by adjusting the pump speed or toggling them on and off. Additionally, to ensure uniform temperature inside the ice bank reservoir, a continuous agitator forces the water into motion.

The air conditioning ice banks produced by Frasard require very minimal maintenance and have virtually zero depreciation. Therefore, they can be expected to have an extremely long lifespan.

One of the factors that may cause hesitation for a buyer when choosing an air conditioning ice bank is its initial cost. In practice, however, an air conditioning ice bank can significantly reduce both the initial cost of the chiller and ongoing expenses.

For this reason, in most applications of air conditioning ice banks, the initial cost is compensated for within 3 to 8 years.

Frasard, by introducing air conditioning ice banks in 2010, became the first manufacturer of this product in the country.

With extensive knowledge and experience in the field of ice storage systems, our company is ready to design and manufacture various types of ice banks with internal and external melting systems. For consultation and purchase of Frasard’s air conditioning ice banks, please contact our experts.