Special Systems
Visiting the Iceman.
Frigotherm Ferrari can do more than business as usual. We are also masters of improvisation and creativity, two qualities that are mainly in demand when creating unique systems. Combined with our experience and expertise in refrigeration technology, this results in extraordinary systems for extraordinary circumstances.
We built one of these particular systems for one of the most famous South Tyroleans in the world: Ötzi, the Iceman. For 30 years, the 5,300-year-old glacier mummy has been providing scientists from all over the world with essential insights into our past.
When building the facility in which Ötzi is kept, however, we were looking to the future. After all, the requirements for his current resting place were unprecedented in their complexity. A complex of climate chambers was created to preserve the world's oldest mummy, which is kept at a constant temperature under thermohygrometric conditions thanks to an indirect cooling system. The redundant design ensures that the system continues to operate even in the event of failures.
The realisation of the system was a challenge for our experts. The technology of indirect cooling, which is widely used in food preservation, has never been tested to store archaeological finds. The high precision of the control, the reliability, and the possibility of making a piece of human history accessible to the public make this project unique.
Photo: © Südtiroler Archäologiemuseum – www.iceman.it
Capita's Mothership.
The second large-scale special system we have planned and implemented underlines the sustainability principle we follow at Frigotherm Ferrari. The "Mothership", the new production facility of the Austrian snowboard manufacturer Capita from Carinthia, is a sustainable zero-emission building driven by one of our heat pump systems. Its energy needs for cooling and heating are met exclusively with water from the Gail river flowing past.
The medium used is NH3, i.e., ammonia, which makes the system entirely harmless for the environment. Water enters a closed system from the river Gail and is first heated by the NH3 - without coming into contact with it - and then cooled in a 2-phase system to meet the various requirements of the "Mothership".
In this way, underfloor heating or snowboard presses are supplied with heat, while air conditioning and grinding lines get the necessary cold. The water is then returned to the river clean and filtered. The bottom line is that we get a system with a COP (coefficient of performance) of 5 - which means that five units of energy are produced for the cooling and heating system for every unit of energy consumed.