A study of modelling the energy system of an ice rink sports facility : Modelling the heating and cooling of ABB arena syd and implementation of renewable energy sources using TRNSYS

Abstract: Environmental issues are important challenges for today’s society. Lots of the energy used by humans comes from fossil energy sources resulting in the environmental threats. A considerable amount of this energy is used in the building sector. Industrial buildings and sports facilities are large users of energy and thus becomes very interesting in an optimization point of view. Modelling of the systems allows for cheap and effective optimizing of the energy usage and effectivity measures can be investigated and implemented. This study creates a model of the indoor ice rink arena of ABB arena syd in Västerås using TRNSYS as the main software for simulation. Focus is placed on the heating of the arena through heat pumps and district heating, and cooling of the ice in the arena using cooling machines. The effect of PV as well as a battery storage in the arena is also investigated as an effectiveness scenario. The results from the study revealed that it is possible to simulate the heating demand for the arena, accurately identifying the normal demand as well as the instances when the demand peaks and the magnitude of the peaks. It is also possible to simulate the cooling demand for the ice over extended time periods. However, this study could not identify the peaks for cooling demand. It is also beneficial for the system to install PV, but not a battery storage. With current price levels for electricity it is however not a very beneficial deal. With higher electricity prices the investment is preferable. The study also concludes that TRNSYS can be used for modelling an ice rink sports arena, however it leaves room for improvement on that aspect.