◎Reporter He Liang
On February 12, in the men's 500-meter speed skating final, Gao Tingyu broke the Olympic record with a time of 34.32 seconds and won the championship of the event, winning the fourth gold medal for the Chinese sports delegation at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Show the world the charm of speed skating - this "ice track and field" project.
From the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics speed skating event to the 13th, the "Ice Ribbon" held a total of 8 events. Except for the women's 500-meter speed skating event, which did not set a new record, the winning results of each other event broke the Olympic record. Especially in the men's 1,500-meter speed skating competition, two players from the Netherlands achieved two Olympic record-breaking performances in one event.
Facing the record that has been repeatedly refreshed, netizens praised the excellent performance of the athletes and exclaimed, what is the "magic" of this ice surface?
The Beijing Winter Olympics has created a "fastest ice" for world athletes!
Adopt the world's advanced ice-making technology
In the field of speed skating, most of the previous world records were set on high-altitude venues in Calgary and Salt Lake City.
The "Ice Ribbon" located on the plain can continuously generate Olympic records and even set new world records. The "fastest ice" uses its strength to justify its name.
Wu Xiaonan, director of the running team of the National Speed Skating Hall, said in an interview with reporters that this not only means that the level of athletes is improving, but also the crystallization of the wisdom and strength of all parties.
The "fastest ice" has an ice surface area of 12,000 square meters, making the "Ice Ribbon" the largest speed skating Olympic venue in Asia.
Not only that, in order to build this unique ice surface, with the support of the national key research and development plan "Science and Technology Winter Olympics" key special project "National Speed Skating Stadium Smart Venue Construction and Application Key Technology Research and Demonstration Application", the "Ice Ribbon" has The builders innovatively adopted the carbon dioxide transcritical direct cooling ice-making system, making the "Ice Ribbon" the first speed skating hall to use this technology in the Olympic history.
Carbon dioxide transcritical direct cooling ice-making technology is one of the most advanced, environmentally friendly and efficient ice-making technologies for winter sports venues.
Its application can not only provide a highly balanced ice surface for the Winter Olympics, but also make the carbon emission of the national speed skating hall close to zero.
Li Jiulin, the project leader and chief engineer of the National Speed Skating Hall, said in an interview with a reporter from Science and Technology Daily that the "Ice Ribbon" uses the most environmentally friendly and safe natural refrigerant - carbon dioxide refrigerant, and its ODP (Ozone Destruction Potential Value) ) is 0, GWP (Global Warming Potential) is 1, and it is one of the most sustainable refrigerants without odor, non-combustibility and non-combustion.
Compared with the traditional refrigeration system, the energy efficiency is improved by more than 20%.
In addition, the National Speed Skating Stadium is also equipped with an intelligent energy management system for the venue, which can use the waste heat generated by ice making for dehumidification, ice surface maintenance, and domestic hot water in the venue. Under the full ice surface mode, only the cooling part can be saved every year. More than 2 million kWh of electricity, and the carbon emission of the entire system is close to zero, equivalent to the carbon emission reduction achieved by about 1.2 million trees.
With the support of the whole system, the temperature difference of the overall ice surface of the "Ice Ribbon" does not exceed 0.5 degrees Celsius, which means that the hardness of the entire ice surface track is consistent, which is very beneficial for athletes to skate well.
Laying the groundwork for the "fastest ice"
Below the ice surface, it is also a solid support for technology.
A large number of stainless steel pipes are laid under the ice surface of 12,000 square meters. Through the sub-module control unit, ice can be made according to different projects, sub-regions and sub-standards.
Such an ice-making method can not only meet the requirements of the Winter Olympics speed skating competition, but also make ice in different regions according to the needs of different ice sports on the ice surface.
To this end, the engineering design and construction unit has obtained utility model patents on the two most critical design schemes, the integrated design of the ice-making system and the design of the ice plate structure.
Li Jiulin introduced that the design pressure of the ice-making process pipes is high, and they are all made of seamless stainless steel pipes, especially the refrigeration pipes in the ice plate use a single 40-50-meter long seamless stainless steel plate. Much, there is no precedent to follow.
Ma Jin, head of the design of the ice-making system at the National Speed Skating Stadium, said that the application of this kind of super-long stainless steel cold exhaust pipe in the artificial ice rink is the first time in the world.
In order to ensure the ice-making effect of the ice plate is uniform, the position and elevation of the pipeline and the surface flatness of the concrete are strictly controlled during the construction. While the project is self-tested, a third-party testing team is introduced to conduct 3D laser scanning of the pipeline and inertial navigation of the concrete flatness. The inspection provides a great calibration assessment and guarantee for the project construction.
In the end, after more than 60 days and nights of unremitting efforts by more than 20 high-voltage double-certified welders, all 8574 welds were welded with high quality.
17 cm of complete concrete floor, the level difference is controlled at 3 mm, which is better than the international standard of 5 mm.
These solid works lay a solid foundation for making the "fastest ice".
To be a sustainable Winter Olympic venue
"At present, our country has achieved the goal of 'driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports' through the preparation of the Beijing Winter Olympics. I especially look forward to the 'ice and snow fever' will continue after the Winter Olympics." Wu Xiaonan introduced, for this reason, The existing venue conditions of the National Speed Skating Stadium not only meet the functions of general comprehensive sports venues, but also consider that the infield can be covered with ice to form an unobstructed ice surface of 12,000 square meters.
The competition area of the National Speed Skating Stadium includes three 400-meter speed skating competition tracks, a speed skating competition practice track, a 60×30-meter multi-purpose ice rink (short track speed skating mode), and a 61×31-meter multi-purpose ice rink ( Ice hockey and figure skating mode) and an active ice rink, which can simultaneously meet the multi-functional needs of skating, curling, ice hockey and other events held as well as the public's ice activities.
Such an ice surface provides a different venue for daily large-scale public ice fitness. After the game, more than 2,000 citizens can play ice hockey, speed skating, figure skating, curling and other ice sports at the same time. After the commercial performances reserved an unprecedented space.