CTA provides biting cold on the Jungfraujoch

Every day, up to 5,000 people visit the ice palace on the Jungfraujoch. The heat input, which “heats up” this tourist attraction of pure ice, is correspondingly high. Two new, customised chillers from CTA provide essential cooling for the ice cave and have significantly reduced the energy input required.

Without cooling, the ice palace on the Jungfraujoch would melt away.

The Jungfraujoch is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Switzerland, as is the ice palace. Every hour, up to 500 people visit the 1,000-square metre ice grotto. Each person visiting the cave “leaves behind” a heat input of around 100 watts. If 500 people are inside the ice palace, they heat the hall from within with a whopping 50 kW. From the outside, global warming is causing additional problems for the ice palace. Without active cooling, it would start to melt.

In brief

28/60 kW output
Brought in in separate modules

Project manager Swen Lang on his way to the system. Access is only possible by train.

Andreas Wyss is Head of Technical Maintenance on the Jungfraujoch.

Stable cooling and low operational costs

The existing, outdated direct evaporation cooling system was replaced during the summer of 2018 by two customised chillers and a heat pump from CTA. The temperature inside the ice palace is regulated to -10 °C by these energy-efficient systems. The waste heat is used to defrost the chillers’ cooling register, to heat the restaurant and produce hot water. By utilising the waste heat, energy requirements can be noticeably reduced, which also reduces operating costs.

Due to the limited space, the chillers were constructed in such a way that they could be brought in in separate modules.

Gradual cooling

The two output-regulated cooling generators have a 28 and 60 kW cooling capacity respectively. The smaller chiller cools the external air to -0.5°C. The second cooling generator services two cooling circuits, with which the air is cooled down in corresponding cooling registers (the heat exchanger in which the air from the ice palace is cooled) in two steps: initially to -13°C, and then to -20°C.

Waste heat as a heat source

The waste heat from both chillers is stored in an accumulator. This heat is used to defrost the cooling registers for the chillers in an efficient and environmentally friendly way. Additionally, it serves as a heat source for the newly installed 53 kW heat pump. The heat pump can thus heat the hot water and part of the restaurant.