Concrete cooling is a technique that reduces the temperature of poured concrete to a certain level, in order to guarantee the quality of the concrete.

Concrete cooling is mainly used for projects in parts of the world with warm climates, where large amounts of concrete are used.

When concrete cures, a minimum favorable temperature in the range of 10 – 21 ºC must be maintained in the concrete for the minimum required curing period. If it cures at temperatures above this level the concrete loses strength, more cracking occurs, it rapidly sets and there is an increased water demand. Therefore, the importance of concrete cooling is huge, especially considering the crucial role concrete plays in almost every building process.

A common method used for concrete cooling is to replace part of the water added to the mix with flake ice. The transition from flake ice to water absorbs a lot of energy and therefore lowers the temperature of the mix significantly.

Using flake ice has a much bigger impact on the temperature of the concrete mix, compared to using cold water, due to the large amount of heat that is needed to melt the ice. To cool down 1 m³ of concrete by 1°C, about 33kg of cold water is necessary, while only 7.5kg of flake ice has the same effect.

To use this method, an ice plant is built near the construction site. An ice factory consists at least of a containerized flake ice machine and an ice cold storage room. Often transport, weighing and dosing systems are also in place. The complete factory only takes limited space, because the production and storage units are placed on top of each other.

Concrete Cooling Ice Plant

The concrete industry makes use of Koller Ice making machine who have been served for ice factories in the world with over 16 years. The quality of concrete for mega structures benefits from the use flake ice. The flake ice will help prevent excess temperature rise after the mixing process which can result in premature hardening of the concrete.

Large amounts of sub cooled flake ice are added to the concrete mixture. The large amount of thermal energy storage in the sub cooled flake ice dampens the temperature rise as a result of which, the time between mixing and pouring may be increased, thus offering more flexibility to overcome situations of long distance or high ambient temperatures.

Koller Ice making machines will help you co-engineer the complete ice factory. We offer:

One or more ice plants up to 100 tons per day.
The ice storage up to a capacity of 150 tons.
Ice transport systems with capacities up to 30 tons per hour.
Water chiller to pre-chill the filtered river water, also for direct mixer use.
Ice weighing systems to accommodate the batching process.

About Guangzhou Koller Refrigeration Equipment Co., Ltd

As China leading industrial ice machine maker manufacturer, Koller can offer ice plant solutions for concrete cooling.
To use this method, an ice plant is built near the construction site. An ice factory consists at least of a flake ice machine and an ice storage. Often transport, weighing and dosing systems are also in place. The complete factory only takes limited space, because the production and storage units are placed on top of each other.