CAREL solutions for the Winter Olympic Games

CAREL is making an important contribution to the transcritical CO technology used in ice makers, so much so that its products have been used in the systems at the 2022 Winter Games: some of the venues hosting the competitions are indeed being supported over this crucial period by CAREL control solutions and ejectors.

Declaring environmental protection as one of its objectives, the organisers of the event, led by the Chinese government, decided to choose more sustainable technology, so as to increase efficiency and minimise the impact of the refrigerants used. Transcritical CO2 solutions have therefore been installed at the venues where new ice-making systems were needed.

As a natural refrigerant application, transcritical CO2 is high-level technology that combines low GWP (GWP = 1) with excellent control performance, while requiring advanced control systems. Thanks to CAREL’s solutions, CO2 ice-making systems can guarantee stable temperature conditions and cost-effectiveness, providing a more precise ice surface temperature to improve the athletes’ performance.

The use of this technology - unprecedented in the history of the Games - was welcomed by national federations and by Mark Messer, head of ice management at the Ice Ribbon in Beijing, who said: “It’s a much different system than in the past. It reacts very differently, and we’re finding a lot of great things with the CO2: it’s great for the environment for a start, so that’s great, but it’s also very responsive”.