River Ice - Cooling System

River Ice is a small-scale Garman river turbine directly connected to an open refrigeration compressor. Polyethylene bags which contain filtered water produce ice blocks through the energy of the currant. Garman river turbines (or the very similar Tyson- and VHL-turbines) are well known technologies. Their typical power output is 300 – 500 W and they are mainly used for house lightning, cellphone recharging, etc. In contrast to the conventional turbines, the River Ice turbine is connected directly to a mechanical compressor, which cools down through polyethylene bags containing water, thus producing ice blocks.

For this system to work, a river must have a minimum depth of 1.7m and a flow rate of at least 0.6 m/sec. If the energy flow of a river surpasses 12 kWh/day, it is sufficient to produce more than 250 kg/24 h of ice in tropical areas with temperatures of 30ºC or higher. According to Aprotec, the River Ice plant allows a direct cost saving of about 66%, compared to usual ice production methods.

Publicly available: yes
Countries where available: Columbia