Worldwide projects: 5.300 delivered systems since 1990
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Worldwide projects: 5.300 delivered systems since 1990
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Gotthard Base Tunnel
(Switzerland)
2001 – 2014
Switzerland
Tunnelling
Challenge
Until its completition in 2016 the Gotthard Base Tunnel was the largest construction site in the world with 17 years of construction time.
Because of very high rock temperatures up to 55 °C the air cooling represented a special challenge.
During excavation of the more than 57 km long tunnel, especially in the working area the temperature had to be cooled below 28°C in order to meet the requirements. For the subsequent installation of the railway technology, the temperature had to be at about 32 °C constantly along the entire tunnel length.
Solution
In all construction phases in which air-cooling was required, the refrigeration technology was projected, planned an delivered exclusively by WAT. The implementation was done by WAT air-cooling machines with 300-450 kW cooling capacity and a central re-cooling plant for each section.
Only for the railway installation WAT installed more than 100 air-cooling machines.
Installed cooling capacity: 60 MW
That is equal to the cooling capacity of 24.000 room air conditioners (2.500 Watt each).
Metro (Singapore)
2018 – 2019
Singapore
Tunnelling
Challenge
Since 2017 the refurbishment and expansion of the city metro in Singapore is in progress, therefore tunnel boring machines are delivered from German market leader Herrenknecht AG.
These include 7 so called “micro”-tunnel boring machines with a diameter <2,5 meters, on which an extra compact design and reliability of the equipment is required – especially for the air-cooling because of ambient temperatures >35 °C.
Solution
On all tunnel boring machines a combination of compact cold-water machines with 90 kW cooling capacity and air-coolers with 80 kW cooling capacity from WAT were installed. The remaining 10 kW served the cooling of components of the TBM.
Installed cooling capacity: 625 kW
That is equal to the cooling capacity of 250 room air conditioners (2.500 Watt each).
Norilsk Nickel (Russia)
2017 – 2021
Russia
Mining
Challenge
The Taymyrski mine operated by Norilsk Nickel, in which especially nickel and copper are mined, is located very deep with its depth of 1.500 m and has air temperatures of more than 32 °C.
The challenge of this project was to realize very big cooling capacities as well as installing an underground re-cooling. Thereby comfortable temperatures for all underground works were realized and heat could be removed to the surface through exhaust air.
Solution
In this project a central refrigeration system was installed consisting of 3 cold-water machines each with 3 MW cooling capacity as well as 14 air-coolers each with 450 kW cooling capacity.
Further a combined re-cooling plant (evaporative re-cooling and dry re-cooling) with a total cooling capacity of 8,6 MW was installed near the exhaust shaft.
Installed cooling capacity: 9 MW
That is equal to the cooling capacity of 3.600 room air conditioners (2.500 Watt each).
Zhaolou (China)
2015 – 2017
China
Mining
Challenge
The Zhaolou mine with a depth of more than 1000 meters is located in China’s biggest coal mining region.
The installation of a comprehensive air-cooling system for all mining areas requires very high cooling capacities. For efficient supply of all areas, the central refrigeration system should be operated underground – but the re-cooling was only possible on surface, so that a cooling-water column of more than 100 bar had to be balanced at the shaft bottom.
Solution
In this project a central refrigeration system with a total cooling capacity of 9,9 MW was installed. The system was delivered with MA- and ATEX-approval (group I, category M2 – mining) and with WAT-high-pressure-condensers in PN160-design (max. water-side operating pressure 160 bar). Therefore underground installation was possible without pressure separation.
Installed cooling capacity: 9,9 MW
That is equal to the cooling capacity of 3.960 room air conditioners (2.500 Watt each).
Longgu (China)
2009 – 2012
China
Mining
Challenge
Longgu mine has a mining rate of about 10 million tons per year. It is one of the most productive mines in China. Due to the local geological conditions and the high machine capacity that is installed, it is regarded as one of the warmest mines in East Asia. Without cooling, temperatures up to 45 °C are reached – with a humidity up to 90 %.
Mining under such conditions is not possible, therefore an effective cooling is unavoidable.
Solution
Based on the mining progress, stages of 1-2 KM 3000 machines with cooling capacities of 3.300 kW each were ordered gradually over several years. Overall the customer ordered 10 KM 3000 machines – which equals a total cooling capacity of more than 30 MW.
Installed cooling capacity: 33 MW
That is equal to the cooling capacity of 13.200 room air conditioners (2.500 Watt each).
Woodsmith (England)
2018 – 2021
England
Shaft sinking
Challenge
For development of the future polyhalite-mine Woodsmith in England by Sirius Minerals Plc., two 1.600 m deep shafts are sinked by SBR-technology of company Herrenknecht AG.
In this project it was necessary to cool down large air flow rates on surface. The cooling systems had to be built in a compact, portable design.
The temperature limits in the workplaces at the shaft boring machine had to be complied with to enable the trouble-free operation of the installed technology.
Solution
According to the requirements for the two shafts, WAT delivered the entire air-cooling system in cointainer design. This includes per shaft 2 air-cooling units with each 1 MW cooling capacity as well as 2 air-cooled cold-water machines with each 1 MW cooling capacity and their connection through a integrated pump station. Further WAT programmed and installed the high-level control that is directly integrated into the ventilation system of the company CFT/Korfmann.
Installed cooling capacity: 4 MW
That is equal to the cooling capacity of 1.600 room air conditioners (2.500 Watt each).
Slavkaliy (Belarus)
2017 – 2018
Belarus
Shaft sinking
Challenge
In the context of the development of Nezhinsky calibration mine in Belarus, in 2018 the sinking of two 750 m deep shafts by Redpath Deilmann GmbH was started. Therefore the innovative SBR-technology of the company Herrenknecht AG was used for the freezing shaft procedure.
The challenge in this project was the cooling of large air flow rates on surface as well as reaching a very low air temperature.
Solution
To protect the cooling element against defrosting and to avoid condensation in the shaft, two WAT coiled tube coolers with each 2,2 MW cooling capacity were used.
With that systems an air temperature of 4 °C could be achieved with a heat transfer fluid temperature of slightly above 0 °C.
Installed cooling capacity: 4,4 MW
That is equal to the cooling capacity of 1.800 room air conditioners (2.500 Watt each).