Revealing the ice team
behind the "fastest ice"
Reporter Zhao Xiaosong
"This is the best ice I've ever skated!" "In such a good ice competition, I want to hit PB (personal best)!" "The ice here is so smooth, especially the walkway!" - At the 2022-2023 National Speed Skating Youth Championships, which ended earlier this month, almost all skaters praised the ice surface of the "Ice Ribbon" of the National Speed Skating Stadium, the venue where the event was held.
These accolades are an affirmation of the "Ice Ribbon" ice team. After successfully completing the support work of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the whole team continued to explore and gradually explored a set of support work system suitable for this "fastest ice".
Meet the different needs of the competition and the public
Geng Baonan, director of the tourism and ice affairs department of the National Speed Skating Stadium, told reporters that in order to allow young athletes to better experience the "fastest ice" in this competition, the ice team adjusted the thickness and temperature of the ice surface, temperature, and the relative humidity and ambient temperature of the competition venue, "These parameters are not fixed, but also need to be scientifically and dynamically adjusted according to the lighting settings in the venue, the number of participants and spectators in the venue, so that the ice surface can be restored to the level of the Winter Olympics, so that the athletes can play their best." ”
The "Ice Ribbon" uses carbon dioxide transcritical direct cooling to make ice. The control of the ice surface temperature is achieved by adjusting the carbon dioxide temperature. Zhao Xianfeng, senior business manager of the facilities department of the National Speed Skating Stadium, who is responsible for this work in the background, told reporters that there is a temperature difference between the ice surface and carbon dioxide, and the former is driven to adjust the temperature through the latter, but the process should also be extra careful. For example, he said: "It takes about an hour to lower [the ice surface] by one degree Celsius, and if it falls too fast, there is a risk that the ice surface will crack." ”
The lower the ice surface temperature and the higher the ice surface hardness, athletes are more likely to skate well, but there is also a higher risk of falling in corners. Zhao said that after the Beijing Winter Olympics, the "ice ribbon" took the initiative to adjust the temperature of the ice surface appropriately when it was opened to the public to reduce the risk of amateurs when skating. When holding professional competitions, the temperature is lowered and you can switch between "Mass Ice" and "Fastest Ice" according to different needs.
Ice replenishment and pouring work is easy
"There are athletes who fall in the corners, the ice surface is damaged, and they need to be re-iced." "Received! The ice team immediately repaired it. After receiving the notice from the referee, the staff on the sidelines immediately took a shovel and carried a bucket with suitable temperature snow to the damaged ice surface, first leveled with snow, and then used liquid carbon dioxide to instantly cool the entire ice surface - this is the "Ice Ribbon" ice team on the first competition day of the National Speed Skating Youth Championships ice replenishment process, less than two minutes, the damaged ice surface is restored as before.
In addition to ice replenishment, another important task of the ice team "in front of the stage" is ice pouring. Every hour during the competition, two ice resurfacing trucks will be dispatched to clean and repair ballast and scratches on the ice.
It seems that it is just driving an ice resurfacing truck on the ice surface to "circle", and the technical content of this work is really not low. The depth of the blade on the car, the amount of watering, etc. need to be controlled precisely. In addition, ice resurfacing vehicles are engineering vehicles, and the driving difficulty is much higher than that of ordinary vehicles. "It's not easy to just drive tightly inside the track without pressing the dividing line!" Geng Baonan said that the masters who drive ice resurfacing trucks in the current team have rich experience and have passed the test of competitions such as the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The team also has "the next generation of ice-making talent"
The "Ice Ribbon" has the world's largest multi-functional all-ice surface using carbon dioxide transcritical direct cooling ice technology. Therefore, there is no ready-made experience in related ice surface protection work that can be copied and referenced, and it is necessary to accumulate a set of the most suitable system through practice.
It is worth mentioning that the "Ice Ribbon" ice team includes not only experienced old comrades, but also young people who study hard. At the beginning of construction, the National Speed Skating Hall, National Aquatics Center and Beijing Electronic Science and Technology Vocational College jointly opened the "Double Ice Venue Ice Talent Order Class", 24-year-old Zhang Qiang is one of them, this Beijing boy who studied heating, ventilation and air conditioning in college, began to practice in "ice ribbon" ice making during the 2021 test event, and participated in the guarantee work of the Beijing Winter Olympics. After two years of training, he has officially joined the "Ice Ribbon" ice team and began to play an independent role in the team, responsible for important work such as ice surface data monitoring.
Zhang Qiang told reporters that he was impressed by his experience working with Canadian senior ice maker Mark Pete Maiser during the Beijing Winter Olympics, "Mark has served so many Olympic Games, but he is still meticulous in his work, even if it is a job such as site cleaning, he has to do it himself, and his love for ice making work makes me admire very much." He said, "Since the test match, the craftsmanship of Chinese and foreign ice makers has always inspired me to do a line of love, and I hope that I can continue to cultivate on the road of ice maker and win glory for the country in this position in the future!" ”