2009 Annual Report - Toromont Industries Ltd.

22 | TOROMONT 2009 ANNUAL REPORT
In traditional arenas, the refrigeration
and heating systems don’t talk to each
other. By integrating the control systems
for both, CIMCO creates an intelligent
building that is able to store heat, use it
when it’s necessary to meet the facility’s
changing temperature requirements and
reduce peak electricity consumption. The
integration is managed through a
sophisticated computer control system
called ECO SENSE.
ECO SENSE allows Ridley to monitor
its athletic complex remotely, and adjust
temperatures for each room without
physically touching a thermostat. The
technology also collects data on energy
consumption, which will be used to
achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) certification.
To an untrained eye, other than the
Ice Battery, an ECO CHILL-powered
facility looks the same as an ordinary
rink. Most of the equipment, including
CIMCO-engineered high efficiency
screw compressor package, steel
plate and frame heat exchangers, and
microprocessor controls, is contained
in a mechanical room.
Unseen is what goes on in the
concrete pad below the ice rink. There,
entombed in layers of concrete and
insulation, are 52,000 linear feet of pipe.
Inside, a syrupy solution known as glycol
A CIMCO Eco-80A ECO CHILL package at Ridley College.
Complete with screw compressors and plate and frame
heat exchangers, this package provides up to 1,300 MBH
of building heat for the new facility.
circulates in the floor. The cold glycol acts
as a heat transfer fluid to move the heat
away from the floor allowing the floor to
freeze and ice to be made. The rejected
heat is then transferred to a warm glycol
solution that is circulated through piping in
the building to provide heat. A portion of
these same cold and warm glycol flows
are also directed to a system called ECO
DRY, which ventilates, heats and
dehumidifies the arena while keeping
humidity at about 40%. This is important
for Ridley as its arena operates year
round. If left unchecked, particularly in the
summer, humidity in an arena creates fog.
Ammonia is used as the primary
refrigerant that exchanges heat
with the chilled glycol. Ridley chose
ammonia over Freon because ammonia
has no harmful ozone-depleting
properties, offers better heat transfer
characteristics and is ten times less
expensive than Freon.
Since inventing ECO CHILL in 2002,
CIMCO has earned four U.S. and
Canadian patents – the latest granted in
2009 for ECO CHILL’s computerized
control systems – a prestigious federal
government innovation award, and more
than 100 customers.
In its markets, ECO CHILL has
become the standard for environmentally
responsible ice rinks and as such has
removed, across its installed base, some
50,000 tons of GHG per year – the
equivalent of 11,000 cars travelling 20,000
kilometers each. This environmental payback
is growing each year along with the
installed base.
So how is ECO CHILL performing at
Ridley? Julia Bertollo, Director of Physical
Plant, recommended ECO CHILL to her
Board of Directors, based on a cost/
benefit analysis, five year ROI and the
desire to contribute to the College’s
five-year Sustainable Energy Plan to
reduce energy consumption by 33.5%.
“Our goals were clear,” says
Ms. Bertollo. “Achieve LEED certification,
create an ice surface of NHL calibre and
deliver the arena on budget and on time.
We’ve gotten it all. Although LEED
certification will take a year, operating
statistics so far show that we will be able
to run our new two-building arena
complex for the same price as our old
single facility rink, taking into account
annual hydro and natural gas costs. We’re
also on budget and CIMCO delivered a
beautiful facility exactly when they said they
would – in just 10 months.”
Aside from the technical details, one
other important feature stands out
according to Ms. Bertollo: “The quality of
the ice. It’s simply outstanding.” TIH