References > GEA, Sotchi 2014

Sochi 2014 - refrigerating plant controllers with VIPA control technology

When the major sporting event of the winter was opened in February 2014, for the participants it was a premiere. For the first time the winter sports competitions took place in a subtropical region directly by the sea. In the middle of the city Sochi the ice stadiums for the different kinds of sports are located. Whereas all kind of sports that has to do with snow or the bob run are located in a 70 km distant ski resort in the mountains. A special master piece is the new bob run whose profile has been developed by Udo Gurgel who is responsible for many world bob runs together with scientists from Leipzig.

Extreme demands to the control technology of the refrigerating plant

The project planning and the construction of the bob run and the coasting slide is one of the most complicated tasks of the artificial ice production. Here, as in air-conditioning and ice production in the particular climate of the city, experts were asked to provide constant and perfect competition conditions for the best athletes in the world. The Moscow sales organization of GEA Refrigeration Technologies won the contract for the artificial ice production on the bob run. The applications include cooling processes for the food and beverage industry, shipping, oil and gas industry, building and leisure facilities such as indoor ski slopes and skating centers. In many countries ammoniac refrigerating plants from GEA are used for ice production and air conditioning in sports facilities. For consistent competition conditions and ice conditions on the entire bob run the ice is produced with the help of ammoniac refrigeration systems on all first-class tracks worldwide, as it is particularly efficient and other refrigerants would not evaporate as evenly over the entire track. In Sochi ammoniac was also to be used – but due to national rules it had to be equipped with a system for gas detection, to detect and display leaks quickly. The control of the ice production and also the permanent monitoring of safety-relevant parameters require an extremely efficient technology.

Exactly suitable solution with VIPA components

So here GEA relies on space saving CPUs and modules of the 200V series from VIPA for the control of the self-developed refrigerating machines. Each aggregate is usable via a touch panel which is also made by VIPA. Besides this, important parameters can be read and manual adjustments can be made. Also alarms run on here, so that malfunction messages can be handled immediately. In total, there are four refrigerating machines along the track each one with a VIPA controller, a touch panel and the components for the periphery.