Bitzer keeps the Olympics cool

GERMANY: Bitzer has been helping to keep things cool at the winter Olympics in Sochi through its provision of 35 compressors to five sports centres.

The 26 CSH and nine HSK screw compressors are ensuring that the refrigeration and air conditioning systems provided by Finnish manufacturer Suomen Tekojää Oy work seamlessly.

A long-term customer of Bitzer, Suomen Tekojää Oy was established in 1997 and has built refrigeration systems for more than 100 ice rinks in Russia and around 500 worldwide. This Including several arenas for the Kontinental Hockey League.

At four of the five venues, the refrigeration and air conditioning systems had to be entirely disassembled and relocated. Suomen Tekojää Oy invested more than one and a half years of intensive work in the large-scale contract.

The sports arenas employing Bitzer compressors are the Shayba Arena, the ice hockey training stadium, figure skating training stadium, curling arena and the Bobsleigh training stadium.

To ensure that everything runs according to plan, the organisers had a backup system installed for each refrigeration system. The compressors provide cooling capacities varying between 450 and 1,050 kW.

“The last thing we want is for hockey stars to find a rink of puddles rather than ice,” explains Ralf Gasper, Bitzer’s director of sales in northern Europe and the Baltic States. “That’s why, for instance, four CSH screw compressors ensure the optimal ice surface and six additional CSH compressors keep the air cool in the Shayba Arena.”