Four Technologies to Save Energy

Abstract

Sunwell Engineering has developed a new ice production system which has many advantages over other conventional ice making methods. A project jointly funded by Federal and Provincial Energy Ministries and Ontario Ministry of Industry and Tourism was undertaken to install an instant ice generator system at Henry H. Misner Fisheries in Port Dover, Ontario. In this system, ice does not freeze in a layer on the cooling surface as it does in the presently used flake-ice generators. Rather, ice is formed inside a solution and cooled below the solution's freezing temperature in the form of small ice crystals. This makes the heat transfer area between ice and solution effectively infinite. As a result, a small double tube heat exchanger can be employed to eliminate the need for a large stainless steel drum which is a mandatory component of other continuous ice generating systems. The application of the ice manufacturing approach at the production/ distribution levels of such industrial sectors as fisheries, poultry, meat and dairy producers appears to offer interesting potential.