Enter Ice Bear
The Ice Bear distributed energy storage system enables a powerful change in how — and, more importantly, when — energy is consumed for air conditioning. The system is designed to absorb off-peak load and dispatch it on-peak, while consuming an equal or lesser amount of energy on each building.
The Ice Bear unit is incorporated into a building’s standard AC system and is designed to absorb off-peak load and dispatch it on-peak, while consuming an equal or lesser amount of energy on each building, creating the industry’s first effectively lossless storage solution.
Using thermally efficient, off-peak power to produce and store energy for use during peak hours the following day, the Ice Bear system reduces peak energy required by conventional AC systems. AC energy demand – typically 40-50% of a building’s electricity use during peak hours – can be reduced by as much as 95%.
Decoupling daytime air conditioning use from peak energy demand, each Ice Bear distributed energy storage unit reduces an average of 7.2 kW of source equivalent peak demand for a minimum of 6 hours daily, shifting 32 kW-hours of on-peak energy to off-peak hours.
The breakthrough technology features of the Ice Bear unit includes the industry’s first effectively lossless storage with unlimited deep discharging, unlimited storage cycles, very low maintenance, no chemicals or heavy metals, and a 25-year asset life.
How It Works
Iced Coils
The Ice Bear energy storage system works with a standard commercial air conditioning system. Requiring no modification to existing ductwork, each Ice Bear unit can be applied to 85% of air conditioners ranging from a 3-5 ton system to a 20-ton system, providing 30 ton hours of cooling.
The Ice Bear energy storage unit operates in two basic modes, Ice Cooling and Ice Charging, to store cooling energy at night, and to deliver that energy the following day.
During Ice Charge mode, a self-contained charging system freezes 450 gallons of water in the Ice Bear’s insulated tank by pumping refrigerant through a configuration of copper coils within it. The water that surrounds these coils freezes and turns to ice. The condensing unit then turns off, and the ice is stored until its cooling energy is needed.
As daytime temperatures rise, the power consumption of air conditioning rises along with it, pushing the grid to peak demand levels. During this peak window, typically from noon to 6 pm, the Ice Bear unit replaces the energy intensive compressor of the air conditioner.
The Ice Bear unit, fully charged from the night before, switches to Ice Cooling mode. The Ice Bear uses the ice, rather than the AC unit’s compressor, to cool the hot refrigerant, slowing melting the ice as it travels through a series of copper coils. A small, highly efficient pump pushes ice-cold refrigerant through a modified Ice Energy LiquidDX® evaporator coil installed in the conventional air conditioning unit.
The Ice Cooling cycle lasts for at least 6 hours. Once the ice has fully melted, the Ice Bear transfers the job of cooling back to the building’s AC unit, to provide cooling, as needed, until the next day. During the cool of the night, the Ice Charge mode is activated and the entire cycle begins again.
The company is headquartered in Windsor, Colorado, with offices in Lake Forest and Sacramento, California. For more information, visit www.ice-energy.com. See their Product Video for a demonstration of it.
