We have all had a look at ice rinks- that frozen body of water which is typically hardened by chemicals, where we can skate or play our different winter sports. Ice rinks are also that stage where we can watch amazing athletes glide with grace in sports such as figure skating. Or we can cheer on aggressively when players throw down in hockey.
Today, there are two types of ice rinks available on the market. There are natural rinks, where the ambient cold temperatures freeze a body of water, or artificial rinks, where chemicals, commonly known as coolants, produce cold temperatures with the help of machines to freeze the water.
If you are someone who wants to build your own rink or have someone do it for you, you will first have to understand what all components go into a rink system. When we come to think of artificially freezing water, our minds tend to always go to refrigerators and air conditioners. And that is not far off from how ice rinks work.
The major difference lies in how the refrigerant works. In the ice rinks, the refrigerant cools brine water, an anti-freezing agent, which goes through pipes underneath the ice.
These steel pipes are all typically embedded into a concrete slab and kept at 32 F/ 0 C, so that any water that is placed on top of the slab freezes and becomes the skating surface that we see. A level of insulation is set beneath the concrete slab so that the ice can shrink and expand as needed but inside the aluminium rink divider panels.
Of course, those are the only components that make up the floor of an ice rink: underneath the skating surface, the chilled concrete, and insulation are the following levels:
- Heated Concrete
- Sand and Gravel base
- Water drainage
These are the three levels that help to keep the area underneath the rink from freezing or causing water damage as they serve as a sink to safely drain all the water carefully when the skating rink defrosts.
Creating an ice rink is difficult; maintaining it is a whole other story. Rink management systems with aluminium divider panels are vital as you have to ensure that the ice is continuously at its ideal thickness. If the ice is too thin, then skates could cut through it; if it is too thick, then it might get too soft and require even more energy to maintain.
The ice itself has numerous layers, including white paint, a sealer, and a layer of markings made from liquid ice paints that vary in thickness. Finally, another layer of ice is applied to it. This means that you have to have ice rink equipment such as a paint truck, paint sprays and edgers along with the ice rink technicians available to deal with ice maintenance and resurfacing.
Author’s Bio: The author is an avid blogger. This article is about rink systems.
