Temperature independent snow production

Abstract

Both the reliability of natural snow and the number of potential snow production days with traditional snowmaking equipment are decreasing due to a warmer climate. This is especially the case at lower altitudes. To maintain conditions suitable for winter sports close to cities and highly populated areas in the future, it may be necessary to use snow storage and temperature independent snow production. These techniques are already in use by several ski resorts, but they are both expensive and energy demanding. It is therefore necessary to develop a new approach to snowmaking that allows snow to be made in an energy efficient and environmentally friendly way at temperatures above 0 °C. Utilization of the heat produced in TIS machines, or the use of waste heat for snow production are among the proposed methods to achieve this. This report begins with a brief description of the currently most used methods for snow production. This is followed by a description of ice production technologies that can be used in temperature independent snow machines, a review of existing TIS systems, and a comparison of these. A summary of two master theses about TIS systems and utilization of the produced surplus heat written in cooperation with the "Snow for the future" project is then given. The report ends with a discussion and conclusions regarding TIS systems.

Temperature independent snow production