“Ice Ball” ice storage system

The “Ice Ball” ice storage system from Cryogel is perfectly suited for the air conditioning of large buildings.

How does it work ?

• The storage tanks are filled with ice balls and a glycol plus water mixture.
• For charging the storage, the chillers deliver water glycol at – 5°C, and the water inside the ice balls freezes. The heat transfer medium is pumped to the upper pipes of the tank and flows by gravity from the top to the bottom.
• During the storage discharge, the medium flows from the bottom of the tank to cool the users and comes back warm at the top of the tank where it is cooled again by contact with the ice balls, melting the ice inside.

The “Ice Ball” system includes : a tank – ice balls – distribution pipes

The tanks

The tanks are generally made of steel, cylindrical and horizontal, closed and under pressure, equipped with one or several manholes, insulated with polyurethane panels. They are located in the basement of the building or outside, or buried underground.

The “Ice Ball”

The “Ice Ball” are plastic spheres made of high density polyethylene, with a 103 mm diameter. 8 concave dimples at the surface, and filled with a special liquid avoiding supercooling. During freezing, the dimples turn in-out progressively, allowing the freezing water to expand easily. The tanks insulated on site are then filled with Ice Balls poured in bulk into the tank.

A 100 m3 steel tank – An Ice Ball with its dimples – The ice balls are poured into the tank, which is equipped with upper and lower distribution pipes

The flow of the water glycol mixture

The tanks are equipped with distribution pipes. Every tank has a lower and a upper pipe drilled with holes which insure a uniform draining of the ice balls.

What makes the “Ice Ball” system different ?

The “Ice Ball System” is very simple to install. It just consists of pouring spheres in bulk into
the tank previously insulated.
The “Ice Ball System” is a very reliable system : It is used by our clients for 15 years without any problem.
The “Ice Ball System” is very competitive and probably the cheapest of all systems of
Ice Storage.
The “Ice Ball System” does not need any maintenance : Indeed, its components, the
Ice Balls, are made of durable plastic.